Dan Schultz

3.5 stars

In May 1998, a police officer, Dale Claxton, in Colorado near the desert pulled over a truck. Nothing seemed amiss until three men stepped out of the truck – all three had automatic guns. Claxton was shot numerous times and was killed. The three set off into the desert as other police tried to chase, but were gunned down themselves (others were injured, but not one else was killed). The last of the three fugitives was found in 2007; all three had died in the desert, though the other two had been found within a few weeks of the original chase.

This was good. Starting off with the killing of Claxton and the chase got me into the book right away. Some of the investigation wasn’t quite as interesting, but it picked up every time one of the three killers was found. And, I found the biographical info about each of the three interesting, as well. The three men were all identified fairly quickly, but all three also had plenty of experience surviving on the desert.

Because all three were found dead, it is speculation about what happened and why they did what they did, but it seems likely they were on their way to a different big crime, but got interrupted with Claxton pulled them over. The police also put out there, for all three of the gunmen, that they’d each killed themselves, but (according to the author) the evidence doesn’t really point to that.

This is a good book about a crime I hadn’t heard about (though I’m sure there are plenty who llived closer to the area who would remember this). It was unfortunate there were no references included in the book, though.… (more)

Listened to this book. It was riveting. A bunch of crazies, filled with the mythological spirit of the old west that celebrated the outlaw, three nuts carrying lots of weapons, shot up and killed a local cop after stealing a water truck. Their ultimate goal remains unclear, but after the shootings, a huge manhunt involving hundreds of police and the army went looking for these guys in the desert. It has been theorized they intended to blow up the Glen Canyon dam. Had they succeeded a torrent of water would have swept everything away in its path for hundreds of miles. (The three were advocates of eco-terrorism. One of them had read the Monkey-Wrench Gang 17 times in which the target is the Glen Canyon Dam.)

From the start, the search was beset with problems. Each agency wanted to be in charge, the FBI, multiple county sheriffs, state cops, not to mention Navajo tribal police. The Navajos had the trackers but they were called off and replaced by dogs and white guys who wanted the credit. Everyone tromped over the trail making tracking almost impossible. The three bad guys, and make no mistake, they were out to kill cops, loved the desert and knew how to move about in it. The police showed up in heavy body army and the wrong clothes making their hunt miserable and life threatening as they suffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration. In one instance, the trackers were on the trail, but night came so they marked the end of their progress with a stick. The cattle who roamed around the area cared little for the stick and during the night trampled and moved it around, obliterating any semblance of trail. The attitude on the part of most law enforcement was to hurry up and catch them to get the glory. They lacked the patience of the Navaho, on whose land much of the search was focused. It was the Navaho who made most of the progress in spite of being shunted to the side by the better funded white LE.

In the end, the author makes a convincing case that one of the suspects was murdered and the scene made to look like a suicide. He cites substantial forensic evidence that support that case. Given the cross jurisdictions, incompetence, and slovenly command structure, not to mention independent actions by some of the police I am not optimistic for a good outcome given the current situation.

For a nice summary by someone who bikes and camps in the area see http://southwestguidebooks.com/fugitives.htm


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