Alleged killers of radio ham and his wife captured

The last two of three alleged killers of Gary Haas, N5VGH, and his wife Linda have been captured in Arizona.

Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has the details:

Authorities in Arizona say it was the suspicions of a forest ranger about an unattended campfire and a vehicle backed into trees which helped lead to the arrests of John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch.

They say the two were hiding out in a campground southeast of the Sunrise Ski Resort in Apache County, Arizona, when the ranger made the discovery and called federal authorities.

After checking the license plate of the car, authorities found it matched a vehicle missing from Santa Rosa, New Mexico and suspected McCluskey and Welch were responsible for the theft.

Investigators say the car came from an area where authorities discovered the bodies of Gary Haas and his wife in a burned-out trailer.

In charging documents released by the U.S. Attorney's office in New Mexico, graphic details of events leading up to the couple's murder were spelled out.

Investigators say McCluskey, Welch, and another man, identified as Tracy Allen Province carjacked the couple's pickup truck and their camper trailer on Aug. 2 at a rest area off Interstate 40 in Quay County, New Mexico.

Authorities allege the trio forced the couple to drive to an area between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, New Mexico where they stopped. It was there, investigators say, McCluskey took the couple at gunpoint to the camper trailer and shot them, killing both.

With the bodies still in the camper, the fugitives drove to a remote area of Guadalupe County in New Mexico where they unhitched the camper trailer and set it on fire with the couple's bodies still inside. The burned out trailer with the couple's remains inside was found August 4th.

That led to a massive manhunt for McCluskey, Province and Welch. It is believed Welch helped McCluskey and Province and another inmate, Daniel Renwick to escape from a private prison in Arizona.

Renwick split from all of them right away and was captured in Colorado a few days after the breakout.
Province then split from the couple and was captured in Wyoming on Aug. 10. McCluskey and Welch, who were first cousins and fiancées, remained on the lam for another nine days.

All are jailed in lieu of very high bail and facing a host of serious charges ranging from kidnapping to murder.

Mark Abramowicz, NT3V
Amateur Radio Newsline

If found guilty at a federal trial, McCluskey, Province and Welch would face either life in prison without the possibility of parole or death by lethal injection.

Source: ARNewsline, US Marshall's Office Press Release