Tuesday January 23 1:23 AM ET
Most of Escapees Tied to Texas Killing Recaptured

By Keith Coffman

WOODLAND PARK, Colo. (Reuters) - Police captured four of seven Texas prison escapees near a
trailer park in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains after one of the most intensive manhunts since
the 1930s, but a fifth inmate committed suicide and the last two were still on the run.

The search for the ``Texas Seven,'' who escaped on Dec. 13, showed no signs of waning, with the two
at large possibly on their way to Mexico.

The seven fugitives, who allegedly shot to death a Texas police officer during a Christmas Eve
robbery at a sporting goods store, had apparently been in Colorado since early January.

They were living a quiet life, sticking together and changing their appearance so they no longer
resembled the pictures of them that had been shown from coast to coast.

``They seemed like very normal people and one of them attended the Bible study at the park,''
according to Betty Denn, a trailer park resident.

The escapees taken back into custody Monday included the gang's suspected ringleader, George
Rivas. The FBI attributed the break in the case to TV's ``America's Most Wanted'' show, which
encourages the public to be on the lookout for wanted criminals.

The seven broke out of the John B. Connally maximum security prison near Kenedy in south Texas
after being left unsupervised in a maintenance room during lunch after crafting an elaborate
escape plan that included stealing a prison uniform and impersonating guards.

The FBI said Rivas, 30, Michael Rodriguez, 38, and Joseph Garcia, 29, were taken into custody on
Monday shortly after leaving a campground in Woodland Park, Colorado. Authorities had had them
under surveillance in the small rural town, 50 miles (80 km) south of Denver.

Were On Way To Store

The three, who were armed, had left the trailer park to go to a general store, and when they got out
of their Jeep Cherokee, they were surrounded by at least 15 heavily armed police officers.

``They offered no resistance. It went down real quick,'' Colorado State Trooper Eric Zachareas told
Reuters.

Suspect Randy Halprin, 23, who had barricaded himself in a mobile home, also surrendered
without incident.

Halprin and the three others were being held in the Teller County jail under heavy guard and were
expected to appear in state court in nearby Colorado Springs on Tuesday, authorities said.

Sheriff Frank Fehn of Teller County, Colorado, told reporters that the last man barricaded in the
trailer, Larry Harper, 37, fatally shot himself in the chest.

``We had FBI negotiators, and during the negotiation ... we heard a gunshot from within the motor
home. We waited a period of time, until approximately a quarter to three (4:45 p.m. EST) to enter the
motor home and found the deceased,'' Fehn said.

Mark Mershon, the FBI agent in charge of operations in Colorado, warned that two other suspects,
Patrick Murphy, 39, and Donald Newbury, 38, remained at large.

Mershon said the pair were believed to be driving an old brown van and were ``armed and extremely
dangerous.'' Officials throughout Colorado were put on alert.

But officials in Texas said the two might be traveling south through New Mexico or Texas on their
way to Mexico.

Arsenal In Their Car

The seven wanted men had three vehicles, and when police searched their recreational vehicle they
found an arsenal: 15 handguns, four shotguns and one semiautomatic weapon.

El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson told reporters at a late press conference that none of the
fugitives' three vehicles was stolen, leading police to theorize they were bought with part of the
$70,000 stolen from a sporting goods robbery in Texas.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens said the U.S. Marshals Service, Teller County sheriff's deputies and the
Colorado State Patrol were dispatched to Woodland Park.

The road to the motor home that the fugitives had been living in was blocked off by police, and
residents of the trailer park were evacuated. Some local schools and businesses were also closed.

The four fugitives taken into custody were cooperating with police, Mershon said. He said police had
received a tip from a viewer of FOX TV's ``America's Most Wanted'' show. The tip came in from a
couple in the Woodland Park area, prompting police to begin surveillance at the trailer park at 2
a.m. MST (4 a.m. EST) on Monday. Up to $500,000 was offered for information leading to the arrest of
the Texas Seven.

Many sightings of them had been reported in Texas and other Western states since they broke out of
prison on Dec. 13. On Dec. 24, they allegedly robbed a Dallas-area sporting goods store and gunned
down a police officer who came onto the scene.

The gang consisted of two killers, two armed robbers, a child abuser, a serial rapist and a burglar.
Police said they stole more than 60 guns in their prison break and the sports store robbery.

Two escapees changed into stolen civilian clothing, while two remained dressed as inmates. The
inmates also took a corrections officer's uniform, according to an internal prison memo.

Four of the escapees drove a flatbed truck to the gate, where they overpowered an officer. One inmate
wearing street clothes then told the officer in the guard tower that he was there to install video
surveillance equipment.