Original Blog Entry: Escaped prison inmate John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch captured!

truesee — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:10:46 GMT

Escaped prison inmate John McCluskey and his fiancee Casslyn Welch captured in northeastern Arizona

Aliyah Shahid

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, August 20th 2010, 1:10 AM

John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch stayed on the run for weeks despite a nationwide manhunt.

Busted!

After being on the lam for three weeks, the Arizona fugitive and his fianc who have been referred to as a modern-day 'Bonnie and Clyde' were arrested at an Arizona campground on Thursday night.

John McCluskey, 45 and his alleged accomplice, lover and cousin Casslyn Welch, 44, were found in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern Arizona.

A U.S. Forest Service ranger confronted the couple after finding an unattended campfire. He became more suspicious when he saw their silver Nissan Sentra hidden in the trees. The ranger had a short conversation with McCluskey, who seemed nervous and fidgety.

A SWAT team and surveillance unit was soon called in.

Welch reached for a weapon but dropped it immediately when she saw she was outnumbered. McCluskey, an escaped prison inmate, also surrendered after cops found him in a sleeping bag outside a tent. He told police he had a gun in his tent and would have shot them if he could have reached it in time.

The nightmare that began July 30 is finally over, said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona.

McCluskey was serving 15 years for attempted second-degree murder, as well as other charges. The two convicts with whom he escaped, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick, have been apprehended.

Welch is believed to have aided their escape. Authorities say she threw a pair of wire cutters over a fence, which allowed the three to cut their way out of the medium-security, privately run Arizona State Prison in Golden Valley.

Since starting their run from the law, police believe, McCluskey and Welch also hijacked an 18-wheeler and its two drivers, who were later released unharmed, and brutally murdered an elderly couple in New Mexico.

The campsite where the duo was arrested was just 300 miles east of the jail.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/19/2010-08-19_escaped_prison_inmate_john_mccluskey_and_his_fiancee_captured_in_northeastern_ar.html#ixzz0x9BGnPbp

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