2 Killed in Montana Were California Escapees

Two men who died in the burning mobile home from which they fired on a sheriff’s posse last weekend have been positively identified as the California prison escapees sought in a five-day manhunt, authorities said Tuesday.

The body of Steven M. Miller was identified from medical and dental records, and the fingerprints of John (Doc) Whitus Jr. were found on a coffee can in the house, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Chuck O’Reilly said.

One of the men died in the fire but the other was dead before flames consumed the double-wide trailer, O’Reilly said. He added that he was not sure who died first, or of the causes of their deaths. Investigators found three weapons near each body, he said.

IDs Took Time

The remains were removed Sunday from the charred ruins at Holter Lake near Wolf Creek, but they could not be identified immediately.

O’Reilly said that state fire investigators told him they believe the fire got started when a propane tank the men had moved into the house exploded.

It’s possible the two men were “trying to set up a booby trap and take out some officers,” O’Reilly said. “It appears they were firing through the walls . . . firing at officers who they thought were outside.”

The sheriff said that the officers fired no shots into the trailer, but a single bullet hole was found in the propane tank.

Two Double Murderers

Miller and Whitus escaped together in February, 1986, from a state prison in Vacaville, Calif., where both were serving time for double murders. One of Miller’s victims was a police officer.

They and an unidentified woman were the objects of a manhunt in the mountains along the Missouri River between Helena and Great Falls. They also were wanted for questioning in a double slaying in Colorado when they opened fire on O’Reilly and his deputies at the Holter Lake campground on April 27.

Authorities said they believe that Miller or Whitus killed the woman who was with them while they were fugitives in the mountains because she was slowing their flight.