3 Who Fled N.M. Prison Captured in Garden Grove

Three heavily armed escapees from a maximum-security New Mexico prison were captured Thursday in Garden Grove, authorities said.

One of the three had kidnapped a family in Arizona and forced them to drive at gunpoint to Southern California, authorities said. It was not immediately clear how the other two got to Garden Grove.

Police captured the trio after one of the kidnap victims, an 11-year-old girl from Flagstaff, Ariz., flagged down a Garden Grove police officer after she was abandoned on a street corner.

Based on her information, police decided that the escapees might be at the Fire Station Motel and a nearby trailer park. And shortly before 5 a.m., James Neal Kinslow, 27, who had been serving time for three murders, was arrested at Vacation Village Trailer Park.

A short time later, FBI agents, armed with shotguns and wearing black camouflage outfits, captured two other escapees, William Wayne Gilbert, 38, convicted of murder, and David Benjamin Gallegos, 34, a convicted robber, at the Fire Station Motel.

The three were among seven who broke out of prison at Santa Fe, N.M., on July 4, triggering an intense manhunt. The other four inmates were captured within eight days. A prison guard was killed during the breakout.

All three newly captured escapees appeared in federal court in Orange County, where they waived their right to a bail hearing. They are being held at Garden Grove Jail, awaiting transfer to the federal prison on Terminal Island. Authorities said they probably will be returned to New Mexico to face charges there.

Arizona residents William and Mary Blades, and their three children--Bobby, 14; Elizabeth, 12, and Malina, 11--have been reunited, authorities said.

According to Richard T. Bretzing, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, Kinslow allegedly broke into the Blades’ split-level home in a middle-class neighborhood in Flagstaff shortly after midnight.

Bretzing said Kinslow bound and gagged the Blades and their three children. At about 6 a.m., he allegedly ordered them into the couple’s four-wheel drive vehicle. Together, they drove west on Interstate 40, crossing into California and reaching the high desert town of Barstow about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, he said.

Tied to Beds

They checked into a motel at about 6 p.m. Kinslow cut up some towels and tied the couple and their two older children to the beds, and then he left with Malina, Bretzing said.

Just before midnight, the agent said, Kinslow stopped behind a fast-food restaurant in Garden Grove and released the girl, warning her not to wander off.

She then flagged down a Garden Grove police officer.

At 2:15 a.m. Thursday, the car was found in the trailer park next to the Fire Station Motel. Officers set up a surveillance, and Kinslow was arrested at 5 a.m. as he tried to leave in the vehicle.

Pointed Gun at Agents

Kinslow initially pulled a .357 magnum and pointed it at the agents, Bretzing said. “But just before a very tender situation erupted, he decided to throw the weapon to the ground and surrender,” he said.

At about 6:30 a.m., an FBI SWAT team forcibly entered Room 243 of the Fire Station Motel and arrested Gallegos and Gilbert. Two sawed-off shotguns and a revolver, along with a large quantity of ammunition, were recovered in the room.

Also arrested, in a second room at the motel, were Chris Martinez, 25, and Chris Faviell, 21. Bretzing said FBI agents have “some reason to believe he (Martinez) has known the escapees for some time and may have been involved in the escape.” Faviell was arrested on an unrelated charge involving bad checks.

Times staff writer Nancy Wride also contributed to this story.