By Scott Sandlin
Albuquerque Journal
SAINT JOHNS, Ariz. — Soon after breaking out of an Arizona prison, two escapees and their alleged accomplice voted on whether to spare the lives of the two truck drivers whose semi they used to flee to Flagstaff.
They voted 2-1 to let them live.
There was no such vote to determine the fate of Gary and Linda Haas, whose camper the three allegedly stole outside Santa Rosa in eastern New Mexico.
John Charles McCluskey told the FBI he felt he had to kill the Haases, retirees on their way to a Colorado vacation, because it was “the only chance” for him and his companions to get away, according to records.
McCluskey, 45, now charged with two murders in a potential federal death penalty case, told an FBI agent Friday in an interview at the Apache County, Ariz., jail that he shot Gary Haas in the temple and Linda Haas three times, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in New Mexico.
The escapees, McCluskey and Tracy Allen Province, 43, and their alleged accomplice, Casslyn Mae Welch, 44, were charged with the carjacking and murder of the 61-year-old couple who had stopped at an I-40 rest stop between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa. Conviction carries a possible penalty of life in prison or the death penalty.
Investigators believe the Haases, of Tecumseh, Okla., were targeted by the trio because they had decided to steal a camper, and the fugitives spotted the couple in a 2006 white Chevrolet crew cab pickup with their camper trailer in tow, criminal complaints said.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzales announced the filings at a news conference Monday. He did not say whether his office would seek the death penalty, citing the elaborate process established by the U.S. Department of Justice for reviewing potential federal death penalty cases. The U.S. attorney general must authorize such prosecutions.
Authorities say McCluskey and Province escaped July 31 from an Arizona prison near Kingman with the help of Welch, McCluskey’s cousin and fiancee.
Mounting evidence
Affidavits in support of the complaints show police already have amassed both forensic evidence and incriminating statements against the three.
For instance, although the Haases’ pickup, abandoned in Albuquerque, showed signs of having been wiped down, the New Mexico State Police Forensic Crime Lab was able to identify fingerprints on the plastic wrapping from a roll of Bounty paper towels found on the truck floorboard, according to the affidavit.
The lab’s tests also found blood smears that matched at least one of the victims on the inside lid of a cooler and in the truck.
Gonzales announced the federal charges at a news conference where he was flanked by law enforcement representatives involved in the search and capture of the suspects over the past three weeks, including the New Mexico State Police, FBI and U.S. Marshals Service. He and others extended condolences to the victims’ families and praised the coordinated efforts that led to the capture of the suspects.
McCluskey and Welch were arrested at an Arizona campground Thursday. Province was arrested in Meeteetse, Wyo., on Aug. 9.
Gonzales said that given the seriousness of the allegations, he hoped the federal case would proceed before other criminal cases, such as escape or aiding an escape.
Smell of gunpowder
Province, interviewed in Cody, Wyo., by New Mexico State Police agents and last Friday by an FBI agent, waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak, the affidavit says.
According to what Province told law enforcement:
He and McCluskey became separated from a third escapee, Daniel Renwick, soon after they escaped, while trying unsuccessfully to find the vehicle Welch had parked in the desert. Renwick was recaptured soon after the escape.
The three hijacked two semi-truck drivers and used the truck to get as far as Flagstaff. They voted on whether to kill them. Province and Welch voted to release them; McCluskey wanted to kill them. They were released.
McCluskey “secured” a small gray sedan and they drove through New Mexico, at one point stealing a current New Mexico plate because the sedan’s registration was expired.
They decided to target someone in a camper and saw the Haases in their truck and camp trailer at a rest area. They forced the couple into the pickup at gunpoint. Province and McCluskey got into the back seat with the Haases’ dogs and ordered Gary Haas to drive. Welch followed in the sedan.
They left I-40 and drove up a road, stopping near a rust-colored tank a mile or two north of the interstate. The Haases were taken into the trailer. Welch and Province were outside the trailer when they heard four or five gunshots. Province saw Gary Haas slumped in a “breakfast nook” area, and could smell gunpowder.
Province loaded the Haases’ three blood-spattered dogs into the truck, and McCluskey drove back onto I-40. He stopped at a Phillips 66 gas station in Santa Rosa, where he told Province to fill the tank because he was covered in blood. Welch noticed blood seeping out of the trailer door onto the ground and cleaned it up.
The grey sedan was left at a nearby Dairy Queen while the three proceeded in the truck back onto I-40, exiting and turning onto a dirt road where they unloaded the dogs and unhitched the trailer. Province left food for the dogs. McCluskey and Welch used liquor found in the trailer to ignite the floor and fixtures.
They retrieved the sedan and drove to Albuquerque. At a gas station, McCluskey told Province to buy brake fluid and paper towels to wipe down the truck. They then drove it to a shopping center and abandoned it.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal