Fugitive Texas Secessionist Killed by Police

FORT DAVIS, Texas — A fugitive member of the Republic of Texas was killed Monday in a gun battle with police who had been tracking him since he fled the secessionist group’s hide-out.

A second man remained at large in the rugged Davis Mountains, where the two had headed separately before the rest of the militant group laid down their arms over the weekend.

The group’s leader and several other people were named Monday in a federal fraud indictment.

The gunfire took place at a bunker about a mile from the group’s “embassy” in a sparse mountain development, state officials said.

The dead man had apparently been shooting at police tracking dogs and a helicopter that were searching for the pair, said Sherri Deatherage Green, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“Shots were fired from the helicopter and from the ground at the suspect,” she said.

The dead man’s name was not immediately known. The two men being sought were identified as Richard Keyes III, 21, and Mike Matson, 48.

Of the two, only Keyes was charged with a crime. He was accused of organized criminal activity and kidnapping related to an April 27 hostage-taking that started the group’s seven-day standoff, which ended peacefully Saturday.

The Republic of Texas, which has split into three factions, contends that the formerly independent state was illegally annexed by the United States in 1845.

After Saturday’s surrender, Richard McLaren, leader of the faction involved in the standoff, was held without bond in the Presidio County Jail in Marfa, about 20 miles to the south, and three others were held in lieu of $500,000 bond each. All faced charges of organized criminal activity.

On Monday, a federal fraud and conspiracy indictment unsealed in Dallas accused McLaren, his wife, Evelyn, and five other people of issuing more than $1.8 billion in bogus Republic of Texas financial documents or “warrants” and using them to pay legitimate bills and to open bank accounts.

Actual losses were estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. “But we don’t know where all the monies went,” said U.S. Atty. Paul Coggins.

Names of the five others charged with the McLarens were not released because they are not in custody.

No court date was set for Richard McLaren. Evelyn McLaren appeared before a magistrate Monday in Alpine, 20 miles southeast of Fort Davis.

If convicted of the various federal charges, Richard McLaren faces a maximum of 725 years in prison and fines totaling $24.25 million. Evelyn McLaren faces up to 155 years in prison and fines totaling $5.2 million.