Federal authorities offered a reward for information about a couple that escaped while being transported to Tucson to face murder charges in the slaying of a 72-year-old man.
There were few details provided about how the two escaped from the private security guards transporting them across country in a vehicle, but the Pima County Sheriff's Department said it was suspending use of Security Transport Services Inc., which has a $120,000-a-year-contract, pending a review of the incident.
The U.S. Marshals Service has been poring through dozens of tips since it was reported that Blane Barksdale, 56, and Susan Barksdale, 59, had overpowered guards in a transport vehicle in Utah at about 11 p.m. Monday. "We're getting tips left and right and looking into the validity of each one," said U.S. Deputy Marshal Michael Adams.
The Marshals Service is offering a $10,000 reward, for each fugitive, for information that leads to their arrests.
While it wasn't clear if they had obtained firearms or taken any from the guards, Adams warned the public should consider them armed and dangerous. Radio alerts sent out by Arizona law enforcement agencies said the two fugitives took the guards' guns.
The sheriff's department said the Barksdales overpowered their guards in Blanding, Utah, on Monday night and then drove to the St. Johns, Arizona, area, where "they escaped custody of STS."
There is no indication the fugitives are traveling to Pima County, the sheriff's department said. They were last seen in a Red GMC pickup in which radio alerts said belonged to a former neighbor of the couple. Digital signs on highways throughout Arizona on Wednesday flashed alerts about the outlaw couple.
The fugitives, who were coming from upstate New York, spent Sunday night in a county jail in Monticello, Utah, said San Juan County Sheriff Jason Torgerson. Torgerson didn't find until hours later about the escape in Blanding, about 20 miles south of the jail. He still doesn't know exactly where or how it happened, he said.
The news caused some panic in the small city of 3,600 residents that the fugitives were loose in the community. Torgerson said they've since spread the word that the fugitives aren't likely in Utah anymore, but he's still asking county residents to be vigilant.
Law enforcement officials said they had no details about the escape and referred inquiries to Security Transport Services, which is based in Topeka, Kansas. When reached by phone, an employee said the company expected to get more information from the two guards involved on Thursday.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department on Wednesday said it has suspended use of the company pending a review of the escape. The county has contracted with STS since November 2016, paying up to $120,000 annually for prisoner transports. So far in 2019, the company has transported 70 inmates, costing the county $88,500, the sheriff's department said. In prior years the company transported about 100 inmates for the county each year.
The department said the reason it uses a private contractor to transport prisoners back to Tucson is due to the "cost for extradition." The last extradition handled by a sheriff's employee cost the department $2,500, the agency said.
The various agencies involved, including the FBI, did not disclose whether the couple was restrained during their cross-country transport, why the route from New York passed through rural Utah or how they overtook the guards. The STS contract with Pima County calls for transported inmates to be "appropriately restrained." It also spells out how much travel time should occur per day, how many bathroom breaks must be allowed and how much food the inmates should be given on the trip. Inmates are also required to wear brightly colored clothes that identify them as prisoners.
The Barksdales were arrested May 24 near Rochester, New York, on suspicion of first-degree murder and other crimes.
Tucson police said a fire followed by an explosion broke out in April at the home of Frank Bligh. The 72-year-old's car was found abandoned the next day. While his body has not been found, investigators say evidence in the car indicated he was likely dead.
Online court records show that Blane Barksdale has spent time in federal prison and Arizona's Department of Corrections. He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in Kentucky in 2003 for being part of a marijuana trafficking organization. He was sentenced in the mid-1980s to 10 years in state prison for drug and theft convictions in Pima County.
Blane Barksdale is described as being 6-foot-5 inches tall, weighing 265 pounds with blue eyes, brown hair and numerous tattoos on his arms and hands. He could be using the name, Jeffrey Robert Fehrenbach, as an alias, the Marshals Service said.
Susan Barksdale is described as being 5-foot-7 inches tall, weighing 110 pounds.
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI Tipline at 1-800-225-5324, the anonymous tipster line 88-CRIME or 911 immediately.
