Four Corners Manhunt, part two

Part two in a behind-the-scenes look at covering a huge manhunt for cop-killer fugitives Robert Matthew Mason, Jason Wayne McVean and Alan “Monte” Pilon, in the Four Corners region of southeastern Utah in May 1998. We jump in the car and head south on the freeway. The reporter starts making phone calls. The battery in his company-issued, brick-sized cel phone goes dead in the middle of his first phone call. He then makes a bunch of calls on my phone, draining the battery in two hours. And I didn’t bring the charger. In the town of Blanding, near the search area, a cop stops me for speeding. And my registration is three months out of date. The cop walks up to the car wearing camouflage pants, a black shirt and a bulletproof vest. Another police cruiser pulls up behind us as backup. He gives me a break on the speeding ticket when the reporter tells him we’re with the Tribune and on our way to cover the fugitive search. “I’m going to be very nice today,” he says. “You were going 69 in a 45 zone. You need to slow way down!” An hour later we find a police roadblock at the edge of Hovenweep National Monument. It’s perfect for a photo. A police cruiser on a two-lane road with two officers wearing bulletproof vests and holding shotguns. There’s a sniper rifle on the hood of the police car pointed into the desert beyond. These guys are ready for anything. We park at the side of the road and approach the roadblock on foot. “You need to leave right now!” yells a shotgun-wielding cop in a black windbreaker. He is very jumpy and responds to every question from the reporter by repeating, “You need to go! Leave right now!” Another officer comes over and talks to him for a minute while I get some shots of all the weaponry. We leave with little else from the scene and rush back to Blanding to send my photo and the reporter’s story back to the Tribune. I develop my film in the hotel room’s bathtub and transmit a scanned negative. Then I play videogames for an hour or so while the reporter writes his story. part one, Four Corners Manhunt part three, Four Corners Manhunt part four, Four Corners Manhunt