Escapee Wanted in Fullerton Man’s Death Captured

Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies captured a prison escapee suspected of gunning down a Fullerton electrician during a carjacking and then dumping his body on a remote hillside, authorities said Wednesday.

Michael Allen Wachholtz, 35, of Guerneville and two others suspected of helping him escape were arrested Monday evening as they were trying to flee through a trapdoor in the Guerneville home where they were captured, authorities said. Wachholtz pleaded not guilty to murder charges during his arraignment Wednesday, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Det. Steve Freitas said.

Deputies in Northern California have been searching for Wachholtz since they found evidence in 1995 that he had stolen a van registered to Jack Lee Brant, 53, of Fullerton.

Brant had taken a temporary job near Santa Rosa when he disappeared. His body was found months later in a remote coastal area in Sonoma County.

“We found evidence that Jack was killed in the van. He was shot in the upper torso four times,” Freitas said.

Wachholtz, meanwhile, was arrested in Idaho for an armed robbery spree. Authorities who arrested him found a gun believed to have been used in Brant’s slaying. Wachholtz was sentenced to 33 years in prison for robbery and was facing murder charges in California, Freitas said.

While in prison near Boise, Idaho, Wachholtz befriended a convicted murderer named Joey Dean Schneider, 32. The pair fashioned a homemade tool and tunneled out of the maximum security prison, Freitas said.

“They grated the metal in their cell and gained access to a breezeway, and from there, got out into the yard,” he said. “Then they cut the wires of the perimeter fence.”

The men made their way to Northern California allegedly in several stolen trucks, police said.

Authorities received tips that Wachholtz “was back in town” and formed a 30-person team to stake out key addresses, Freitas said. During a surveillance, deputies saw Wachholtz’s girlfriend, Candi Allain, 35, leave work in a Toyota pickup truck that matched the description of a truck stolen by Wachholtz.

Deputies they followed Allain to her home and arrested her and the two prison escapees.

“Schneider will be transported back to Idaho, and Wachholtz will face murder charges here finally,” Freitas said.