Suspect in O.C. Slayings Captured in Colorado : Manhunt: Douglas Stanley, wanted in shooting of 2 Fountain Valley women, is arrested at roadside rest stop.

The fugitive sought in the slayings of two women in a Fountain Valley embroidery shop was captured at a roadside rest stop in the Rocky Mountains over the weekend after a handgun fell from his pants as police questioned him, authorities said Monday.

A thousand miles from the scene of last week’s shootings, Douglas Frederick Stanley surrendered to three officers in Parachute, Colo., after his battered escape vehicle gave out on a rural road about a dozen miles away.

“He just basically gave up,” said Jerry Beers, a police officer in Parachute who took part in the arrest. “The only thing I heard him say was that he had had heart surgery and that he needed his nitroglycerin pills because he was having chest pains.”

As police began to piece together Stanley’s flight and the case against him, the 57-year-old suspect appeared in court here Monday as extradition proceedings were begun.

An Orange County public defender who spoke with Stanley by telephone said he was “despondent” and was apparently being held on suicide watch at the Mesa County Jail in Grand Junction.

Dressed in street clothes, Stanley said little and spoke hesitantly during a court hearing that was conducted via closed-circuit television between the courthouse and the jail. He was ordered to return to court next Tuesday for a hearing on his extradition, and it may take as long as 30 days before he is returned to Orange County to face murder charges, authorities said.

Police have not yet detailed a motive in the case other than to say a “personal grudge” may have led to the fatal shootings Thursday of Stanley’s sister-in-law, 52-year-old Joyce Stanley, and Terry Vasquez, 41, an employee of Joyce Stanley at the Design-It embroidery shop on Slater Avenue in Fountain Valley.

Authorities allege that Douglas Stanley had threatened family members repeatedly and then opened fire on the two women at the shop, where he worked on machines and helped with chores nearly every morning. Stanley’s brother, Charles, who owned the business with his wife, arrived at the shop to discover the crime, police said.

Douglas Stanley, a one-time ranch hand said to have a penchant for guns, had been on the run for more than two days at the time of his arrest. Southern California authorities had cast a wide net in their search for him, suspecting that Stanley might head to Wyoming or Texas--both areas where he had lived--or Ensenada, Mexico, where he has traveled for heart medication.

In Wyoming, Uinta County sheriff’s investigator Ron Noorda said Monday that authorities there were on the lookout for Stanley, who was well known to some area residents.

Stanley called two old friends in the area last Wednesday--the day before the killings--and told them that “he had made plans and he was going to take out his brother, his sister-in-law and someone else and that he had it all worked out,” Noorda said.

Noorda said Stanley had a reputation in Wyoming for making threats, and the sheriff’s investigator said he once took a shotgun away from Stanley during a confrontation at a hamburger stand. “The guy was always making threats like this,” he said.

Worried nonetheless, Stanley’s friends contacted police two days later, Noorda said. “They were concerned that he may show up, and they didn’t want him here,” said Uinta County Sheriff Forrest Bright.

James Wilson, who was contacted by Stanley, said he didn’t want to talk about the conversation. “Doug and I were good friends. Even though the man done what he done, we’re still good friends,” he said. He said he didn’t know where Stanley had called from.

Stanley was finally spotted, not in Wyoming but in Parachute, a small, rural town of 900 people along Interstate 70, about 48 miles from Grand Junction in western Colorado.

Stanley had no known ties to the area, but police in Parachute and in neighboring areas were alerted about 1:30 a.m. to be on the lookout for him after state troopers found an abandoned and battered Buick LeSabre in the town of De Beque, 12 miles south of Parachute.

Police allege that Stanley stole the car from Joyce Stanley after killing her and Vasquez. The car apparently broke down in De Beque. After state troopers concluded that the abandoned car was the one stolen in Fountain Valley, they put out a bulletin about a “stolen vehicle, occupant armed.”

Within minutes of hearing the bulletin over the local dispatch, Beers, the Parachute police officer, saw a man sitting on a bench at an interstate rest stop who matched the police description: brown hair, brown eyes, about 5 feet 11 and 165 pounds.

Beers said in an interview that he grew suspicious when the man appeared overly eager to explain why he was there.

“I pulled the car up and was getting out, and before I even said anything, he blurted out, ‘I’m waiting for a bus,’ ” Beers recounted in an interview.

At a nearby convenience store that was part of the rest area complex, Beers then met with a state trooper involved in the case and learned that the man wanted in the dumping of the Buick was wearing a dark coat and carrying a duffel bag. That, too, matched the description of the man who was waiting at the rest area bench, so Beers returned to the scene.

Beers, joined by a state trooper and a Garfield County sheriff’s deputy, began questioning the man, who said he had been mugged and had lost his identification. The man also said he had gotten off a bus to Denver during a rest stop in Parachute, but he had no ticket with him, and Beers said his story did not match up with the local bus schedule.

Then, as the suspect stood up, a gun fell out of his pants leg, Beers said.

“I knew we had him,” he said.

Police quickly handcuffed the man and arrested him, but he began complaining of chest pains and was transported to a hospital in Rifle, Colo., for observation before being booked in county jail.

Authorities said they used fingerprints to identify Stanley, though the suspect gave them a different name for several hours after his arrest.

“He had no identification on him and stuck to his story until midday (Sunday),” said Capt. Bill Denisi of the Fountain Valley Police Department. “Finally, he admitted he was Stanley, but by then it was a moot point because we had made the fingerprint comparison and we knew it was Stanley.”

Police believe the loaded gun that the suspect dropped may prove to be the break they were awaiting.

“We are very hopeful this will turn out to be the murder weapon. It was a .38 (caliber handgun) that was used at the crime scene,” Denisi said.

While authorities are still uncertain where Stanley spent his time between Thursday and early Sunday, they said that the battered Buick indicated he had done considerable off-road driving.

“It’s banged up and looking pretty bad. The back window is broken out. This was almost a pristine 1992 vehicle when he left,” Denisi said.

Stanley may have driven to Wyoming, where he had worked on a farm for several years, and then headed south to Colorado, authorities speculated. But they acknowledged that this was “conjecture” because no one had spotted Stanley until he was seen in Colorado early Sunday.

At Monday’s court hearing, Stanley was advised of the charges against him by Mesa County Court Judge Arthur R. Smith, but he did not enter a plea and no bail was set.

Orange County Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg said Stanley sounded “despondent” when she spoke with him about the case by telephone.

“He was very emotional and seemed to be under a great deal of stress,” she said.

Police, meanwhile, hope to fill in missing pieces in the case soon.

“I wish I had a motive,” Denisi said. “Obviously, there was some kind of personal grudge. Precisely what it was, we don’t know.”

How Stanley Was Captured

1) Authorities find Stanley’s abandoned car at 12:30 a.m. Sunday; license plate check reveals link to Orange County murders.

2) Police officer questions Stanley at rest area before 2 a.m.; Stanley gives a false name, says he’s waiting for bus to Denver; officer calls for backup; as Stanley is searched for weapons, a .38-caliber gun drops from his left pants leg; he is arrested.

3) Stanley complains of chest pains; is taken to hospital.

4) Stanley taken to Mesa County Jail.

Source: Parachute Police Department

Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times