Montana Posse Loses Trail of Fugitives

Lawmen Thursday lost track of a pair of “coldblooded killers” who slipped into rugged mountain country after fleeing deputies in a hail of bullets at a campground near here Monday.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Chuck O’Reilly said searchers and their dogs could find no trace or scent of the two men or their female companion. The men are escapees from California’s Vacaville prison, where both were serving time for murder.

Asked whether his men had lost the trail, O’Reilly conceded: “Temporarily, yes.”

But he said he was still confident that they were in the vicinity, explaining that the heavily wooded and rocky terrain they were traveling through would make it impossible for the suspects to move more than a few miles a day.

He said FBI and other law enforcement agencies supplementing the 100-man posse would soon begin rotating personnel on the chase, but added: “We will seriously consider a termination date if we can’t pick up any trail or any fresh scent in the near future.”

Earlier, O’Reilly said that, if teams did find the fugitives, they would probably “not be taken without a fight.”

“They’re killers, they’re coldblooded killers,” O’Reilly said of the fugitives, who also are implicated in last week’s slayings of two Colorado survivalists. “They will show no remorse.”

A third person, thought to be a female accomplice picked up on their flight from Colorado, is believed to be with the suspects, who are identified as Steven Miller, 34, and John (Doc) Whitus, 36. Miller was convicted in 1976 of killing an Ontario, Calif., policeman. The men escaped from the California institution last year.

O’Reilly said his teams had found no evidence that the fugitives had abandoned a heavy duffel bag filled with a cache of ammunition and arms, including a huge “elephant gun,” that they carted away from the campground after Monday’s shoot-out. The three also are believed to be carrying topographical maps that could help them elude stalkers. However, in what may have been a twisted attempt to taunt lawmen, Whitus and Miller left at their campsite snapshots of themselves making obscene gestures and posing with weapons.

Residents of the area, both those evacuated from the search zone and those who live outside it, were clearly growing impatient with the pace of the manhunt as they gathered in tiny Wolf Creek’s only bar and restaurant and ridiculed the competence of O’Reilly and his men.

“It’s funny up to a point but, let me tell you, at night when it gets dark, it’s spooky,” said Chris Palmer, who lives on a ranch near town. “I’ve been here 11 years and I’ve never locked my doors, but they’re all locked now. My grandma’s staying with me because she doesn’t want to stay at her place by herself. And she’s got her shotgun sitting on the back porch.”

The manhunt is also proving to be a drain on the budget of the economically strapped Lewis and Clark County government, which recently ordered a 3% cutback in the $1.4-million annual budget for the sheriff’s office. Expenses for the first three days of the search topped $60,000, O’Reilly said.