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Four Corners Manhunt, part four
Part four 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. Rising early, we drive back to the first roadblock. Staffing it are the four officers who nearly shot us last night. They check our IDs again and start joking, “To get through, you’ve got to give us some food.” “How about some donuts, guys?” I ask. “Donuts!” says a cop with a machine gun. “Listen to this guy!” “No, really,” says the reporter. “I’ve got a box of donuts!” There’s not much to shoot at the roadblocks so we drive 60 winding canyon miles to Cortez, Colorado. It’s the town where this all started, where the first cop was murdered. At the hospital we ask a group of nurses where the two wounded officer’s rooms are. They tell us the room number and as we walk to the room they start wondering who we are (my two cameras probably don’t help our anonymity). They stop us and say they’ll go ask if it’s OK to visit the injured men. The word comes back from both rooms: No. We protest further and a nurse gets a doctor to ask one officer while another nurse tells us we need to leave. The doctor comes back with the word that it’s OK to talk to one of the wounded officers, But no cameras. I follow anyway and sit on a chair just outside the room. Maybe they’ll let me get something. Officer Todd Bishop tells his story. He responded to the area where the cop-killers had been spotted. As he drove around the neighborhood they pulled out right behind his patrol car. He looked back and saw a man in the passenger seat wearing an army helmet and pointing an SKS assault rifle at him. The man fired. Officer Bishop stepped on the gas as a hail of bullets stormed into his car, one lodging in his head. His girlfriend said, “It’s still in there, see?” and she pulled his hair out of the way to show us. There were a lot of flowers around the room, left by well-wishers. I asked if I could get a photo of flowers. Officer Bishop agreed to a photo of himself in his hospital bed. It was a great exclusive. No one else had talked to him. We returned to our hotel to send the photo and story. We hung around Blanding for the night, in case anything broke on the story. The next day we returned to Salt Lake City. part one, Four Corners Manhunt part two, Four Corners Manhunt part three, Four Corners Manhunt -
Four Corners Manhunt, part three
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. At midnight, we drive back to the police roadblocks in the desert around Hovenweep. We get through the first roadblock after they check our IDs and look through the car. We continue on into the desolate wilderness, driving through the pitch darkness on twisty dirt roads. There is not a light to be seen and there is no telling where the cop-killers are. I keep imagining scenarios where they jump in front of our car and hijack us. A Highway Patrol SUV drives slowly past us. As soon as it passes it flips around behind me, kicking up a cloud of dust. In front of us, a police cruiser comes out nowhere, blocking our path with red and blue lights flashing. I stop as our car is flooded with spotlights. The cops jump out of their cars and pull their guns on us. “Driver! Get out of the car slowly! With your hands in the air!” I do as they say and see an assault rifle and pistol pointed directly at my chest. It is one of the strangest moments in my life. I am filled with intense excitement and a sort of joy. Fear is there, but in the background. I immediately regret that for my own safety I can’t photograph the moment. They get the reporter out of the car and have us turn around slowly to visually check us. Then they move in to check our IDs. A cop holds a gun to my chest while he looks at the press ID on a necklace outside my shirt. As we’re checked out two more officers emerge from the roadside ditch, where they had been training submachine guns on us. Once they know we’re with the Tribune, a cop with an assault rifle says, “Which one of you is (name retracted)? He wrote an article about me and I’ve got a few things to say to him!” Luckily that’s not the reporter I’m with this time. We drive on and hit another roadblock where a similar ID check, without the gun pointing, takes place. Around my neck I’ve got my Tribune press pass as well as a phony backstage pass for the ridiculous heavy metal band Piledriver that I wear as a joke. The officer looks at my press pass, but doesn’t know what to make of the Piledriver pass. He stares at it for a long time but doesn’t say anything. They get us out of our car to wait for the sheriff, who is driving over from the search HQ to talk to us. As we stand in the dark, moonless night, the reporter tries to make small talk with the officers. They don’t answer to anything. “Are you guys with the rangers?” the reporter asks. No answer. One of the officers gets irritated with the questions. “I’m not trying to be rude,” he says. “I just don’t want to talk to you.” The moonless desert sky is lit up with a million stars. A helicopter is flying overhead using an infrared device to locate the fugitives. It flies over us but is invisible even with the stars. The sheriff comes along and answers our questions. This late-night trip doesn’t amount to much, and our deadline has passed long ago. We head back to Blanding to sleep. part one, Four Corners Manhunt part two, Four Corners Manhunt part four, Four Corners Manhunt -
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 -
Four Corners Manhunt, part one
Originally published on June 8, 2007. In the light of this week’s news that the probable remains of fugitive Jason Wayne McVean, as well as an AK-47 and 500 rounds of ammunition, were found in the Four Corners area, I thought it would be fun to re-visit my short experience covering that story. Here’s part one from my May 29, 1998, journal entry, which takes you into the decision-making process on that day. Work calls at noon: “There’s been a shootout down in the Four-Corners area. Some Thelma & Louise type thing. They want someone who’s an expert at transmitting to go.” I shower quick, kiss the kids, and get to the office. We’re going to fly in a small plane, but the details are still being worked. I find out a little more about what happened. A cop pulled over a stolen truck and the occupants unloaded on him with machine guns. The cops chased the guys into some desert canyons, where they escaped on foot. One cop dead, two wounded. A huge manhunt is on. One of the editors wants us to fly over the area and get a shot of a search plane or helicopter from above, showing the wilderness below it. The problem is, the air space is probably sealed off to civilian traffic. If not, it’s still a very large area they’re searching. Sixty square miles. The odds of getting that shot seem small to me. Then the pilot calls and says the ride will be too bumpy for the small plane. It’s going to take bigger plane, one that you can’t photograph easily from. She asks how strong our stomachs are and if we’ll puke in the bumpy plane, which is going to 600 extra dollars. Someone suggests we fly commercial, but the flight doesn’t leave until 5 p.m. I point out we could be in Moab by 5 p.m. if we drove. We decide to drive. We’ve lost an hour just talking and still have to convince an editor to approve the trip. We all convene in his office. “This is the dumbest f*ing idea I’ve heard all week!” he says. “Well, I’m glad to be a part of that,” says the reporter, who really wants to go. The editor’s argument is that a cop getting shot doesn’t mean any more than anyone else getting shot, and we don’t run out on every one of those. Also, the shooting occurred in Colorado, not Utah. The reporter argues back valiantly. Towards the end, he says, “I’ll put two beers and a burger on it. If it doesn’t pan out, I’ll buy.” The editor argues that the odds of getting a great photograph are small. I reply that the odds are zero if we don’t go. The editor is clearly against it, but he defers the decision to the reporter, so we’re on our way to cover the biggest manhunt in the state’s history. As we ran to the car another editor caught up to us. He said, “Regardless of all that — you guys go kick some ass!” part two, Four Corners Manhunt part three, Four Corners Manhunt part four, Four Corners Manhunt
