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Yes, they caught all of them about 4:30 a.m. this morning at Ardmore,
Oklahoma at a Total Service Station. Soto and Jordan surrendered
without incident...Gambil and Bagwell took the attendant at the Total
hostage for about four hours but ultimately surrendered.
It is our understanding, at this point, that Jordan and Soto are back in
custody at the Montague County Jail.
Check out the website later today for a full story.
Shari Johnson
Escapee's relative could be charged
A family member may have assisted four fugitives, DA says
02/07/2002
By DAN MALONE / The Dallas Morning News
Investigators are trying to determine whether four prisoners who escaped
the Montague County Jail 10 days ago were helped by a family member,
District Attorney Tim Cole said Wednesday.
"Investigators tell me that at some point in the not-too-distant future
they may be referring charges to me on a family member of one of these
people," Mr. Cole said. "There is clear information in that direction."
<http://a1416.g.akamai.net/f/1416/744/1d/www.wfaa.com/img/02-02/020202esca...>
Mr. Cole declined to specify which family was under suspicion. He
described the potential case as "some sort of charge of assisting a
fugitive or harboring a fugitive or assisting in the escape of an inmate."
The prosecutor also said he plans next week to ask a grand jury to
return a capital murder indictment against one of the escapees - Charles
William Jordan, 30.
Mr. Jordan and Chrystal Gale Soto, 22, were being held in the jail on
murder charges in the slayings of an elderly Montague County couple.
They escaped Jan. 28 with two Oklahoma men serving life sentences for
murder - Curtis Allen Gambill, 24, and Joshua Luke Bagwell, 23.
Law enforcement officials said the escapees used a handmade knife to
take a guard hostage, but other prisoners at the jail have raised
questions about whether a weapon was used.
Mr. Cole said reports about the weapon came from statements guards made
to the FBI and other investigators.
"Anything to the contrary will be pursued and checked out as thoroughly
as it can be," he said. "We hear information from the inside of jail all
the time that turns out not to be credible information.
"We're not rejecting it," he said. "Everything is being checked out."
He said he will seek an indictment against Mr. Jordan in the Nov. 23
slayings of James Christmas, 76, and his wife, Ullain, 79.
Mr. Jordan, Ms. Soto and Willard Thomas Christmas, 17, were arrested in
Washington, where Ms. Soto has a relative, a few days after the
slayings, authorities said. Willard Christmas, who is the half-brother
of Ms. Soto and the grandson of the victims, remains jailed in adjacent
Clay County.
Mr. Cole said he has not decided about how he will proceed against Ms.
Soto and Mr. Christmas. Mr. Christmas' father has said that his son had
nothing to do with the killings and that Ms. Soto was in love with Mr.
Jordan.
Mr. Cole said the trio had been living on property the Christmases owned.
"Mr. and Mrs. Christmas decided to evict them ... and there was a
confrontation ... and that's when they were killed," he said. "He was
killed with a shotgun blast, and she was beaten to death."
Mr. Gambill and Mr. Bagwell were convicted of the unrelated 1996 murder
of Heather Rose Rich, a 16-year-old cheerleader from Waurika. They had
been returned from state prison to Montague County for a conspiracy
trial against Mr. Gambill. The two met Mr. Jordan and Ms. Soto in the jail.
Other prisoners in the jail said some of the four talked openly about
their intent to break out during the week before the escape.
The escape led to a nationwide manhunt stretching from the West Coast to
Missouri. In Texas and Oklahoma, authorities have concentrated their
search on the rural bottomlands of the Red River.
"I have sometimes believed they are together, and other times I don't,"
Mr. Cole said. "At this point, I really don't know."
Ms. Jordan and Ms. Soto were living in Bowie when the murder took place
but have few ties to Texas. "If they can get out of this area, it's
quite likely they would do that," he said. "On the other hand, Gambill
and Bagwell don't have any contacts anywhere else."
He said he has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty against
Mr. Jordan.
He warned families of the escapees to think twice about providing the
foursome any help.
"Anyone who contemplated helping these people is likely to wind up
sitting next to them in a cell," he said.
FORT WORTH, Feb. 6 - Two of four escaped inmates were in a standoff
with lawmen late Wednesday at a convenience store in southern Oklahoma
and two of their fellow escapees were captured, authorities said. [Watch
this story in the NBC 5 Feedroom]
<http://nbc5i.feedroom.com/index.jsp?auto_band=x&fr_story=317fd548e58521b9...>
Curtis Allen Gambill and Joshua Bagwell were holed up in a Total gas
station near Ardmore on U.S. 70 and were holding a 70-year-old man
hostage, said Kym Koch, a spokeswoman with the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation.
Authorities arrested Chrystal Gale Soto and Charles Jordan outside the
store at 9:50 p.m. while they were using a pay phone, Koch said. Soto
and Jordan fled with Gambill and Bagwell from the Montague County Jail
in northern Texas on Jan. 28.
The four overpowered a guard at the jail and escaped in her sport
utility vehicle. In recent days, they have been linked to two burglaries
and a car theft in southern Oklahoma.
Gambill, 23, of Terral, and Bagwell, 24, of Waurika, were convicted of
the 1996 slaying of Heather Rose Rich, a 16-year-old cheerleader from
Waurika. Each had been sentenced to life in prison and had recently been
returned to Montague for further proceedings.
Jordan, 30, and Soto, 22, of Bowie, Texas, were jailed on charges
stemming from the deaths of an elderly couple in the county.
Officials in Oklahoma are confirming that two of the prisoners who
escaped last week from the Montague County Jail have been captured in
the town of Ardmore. Charles Jordan and Crystal Soto were arrested late
Wednesday night, and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol believes the other two
escapees, Curtis Gambill and Joshua Bagwell may be at an Ardmore gas
station holding an attendant hostage.
Jordan and Soto were being held in the Montague County Jail awaiting
trial for the murders last fall of an elderly Montague County couple.
Gambill and Bagwell were convicted for the 1996 murder of a 16-year old
Oklahoma cheerleader.
CBS 11
kb
I would like to thank those of you who have sent me notes about my
Father and Step-Mother. These two list links are like family to me. I
spend so much time transcribing Warren County, NC documents and doing
the Christmas research that I just felt that we were old friends.
Thank you again for understanding the need to get these messages out .
The Couple who murdered my parents were in MO for a while and abandoned
their children to go to Texas and then murdered for no reason. They are
very bad people and need to be caught.
Ginger
I would like to thank those of you who have sent me notes about my
Father and Step-Mother. These two list links are like family to me. I
spend so much time transcribing Warren County, NC documents and do in
the Christmas research that I just felt that we were old friends.
Thank you again for understanding the need to get these messages out .
The Couple who murdered my parents were in MO for a while and
abandonded their children to go to Texas and then murdered for no
reason. They are very bad people and need to be caught.
Ginger
Hello Listers,
A query to Ginger:
I keep looking for any reference to a CHRISTMAS in your reports. Will there eventually be one?
One rule that some rootswebs use is that any surname is typed in CAPITALS and in this way it is much quicker to scan for any name in which you are interested. Your reports are very long and detailed and using CAPITALS for surnames would speed up scanning.
Kind regards,
Ray Christmas, from New Zealand,
mail to:ray.christmas@inspire.net.nz
R E G I O N A L N E W S
<http://www.trnonline.com/stories/02062002/regional_news/29543.shtml#>
Wed, February 6, 2002
No new leads on escapees Slain teen's mom unhappy about lack of information
Jeff Hall, , , Times Record News
It was a quiet day in the search for the four inmates who escaped from
the Montague County Jail more than a week ago.
Kym Koch, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation,
said Tuesday afternoon there was nothing new in the investigation into
finding the four escapees, who are believed to still be in southern
Oklahoma.
Josh Bagwell, 22, of Waurika, Okla.; Curtis Gambill, 24, of Terral,
Okla.; Charles Jordan, 30, of Bowie; and Chrystal Soto, 22, of Bowie,
overpowered a guard about an hour before midnight Jan. 28 and escaped in
another jailer's SUV.
Bagwell and Gambill were awaiting transfer to a Texas prison to serve
out life sentences for murdering a Waurika teenager in October 1996,
while Jordan and Soto were being held on murder charges in connection
with the slaying of Soto's grandparents, James and Ullaine Christmas of
Bowie in November 2001.
Koch said law enforcement agents from local, state and federal
agencies were still working leads and interviewing family members of the
escapees, but "there's nothing new to report.
"We have talked to most of their family members - I'm not sure if
we've contacted all of them," she said.
Meanwhile, the mother of the slain Oklahoma teen-ager complained
Tuesday she isn't getting any information out of the law enforcement
agencies trying to find the escapees.
Gail Fulton said the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, the
agency leading the search for the four, and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation haven't kept up communications with her.
"I'm fed up with keeping quiet about a lot of things. We're not
getting anywhere with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department," she
said from her home in Houston.
Phone calls from the Times Record News to the Sheriff's Department in
Waurika Monday and Tuesday were not returned.
Fulton's daughter, Heather Rich, 16, was murdered in October 1996 on
a bridge over Belknap Creek in Montague County. Bagwell, Gambill and
Randy Wood were convicted of murder in connection with her death and
received life sentences.
Bagwell was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder at his 1997
trial and given a sentence of 99 years. Gambill, who reneged on a plea
agreement to avoid the death penalty in Bagwell's trial, received a
99-year sentence on Jan. 15 in Montague County.
Bagwell had been transported to the jail as a potential witness in
Gambill's trial, but was never called.
Fulton said she also questions the "official" version of how the four
escaped from the Montague County Jail on Jan. 28, as well as the events
leading up to the jailbreak.
"I want to know why Josh Bagwell was brought to Montague County by
Curtis Gambill's lawyer for a trial and then was never used (and) I want
to know why they were kept there in that jail -which is uncertified -
for two weeks after that trial," Fulton.
Contact Web News Editor Jeff Hall at hallj(a)wtr.com or (940) 763-7596
or (800) 627-1646, ext. 596.
I also just clip the reoprts fron the internet NEWS and send them so
CAPS wasnt thought of.
Ginger
Ray Christmas wrote:
>Hello Listers,
>
>A query to Ginger:
>I keep looking for any reference to a CHRISTMAS in your reports. Will there eventually be one?
>One rule that some rootswebs use is that any surname is typed in CAPITALS and in this way it is much quicker to scan for any name in which you are interested. Your reports are very long and detailed and using CAPITALS for surnames would speed up scanning.
>
>Kind regards,
>Ray Christmas, from New Zealand,
>mail to:ray.christmas@inspire.net.nz
>
>
>==== CHRISTMAS Mailing List ====
>Christmas Web Page:http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~research/index.htm
>
>
James Lloyd Christmas and his wife Ullaine Darlaska Childress-Christmas
were murdered by Soto and Jordan. James was my father. Another suspect
Willard Thomas Christmas is suspected in the murders but was in another
jail and did not escape. The suspects that are running were seen near
the jail he is in.
I am just keeping people posted.
Please watch the America's Most Wanted show Sat. night on FOX TV and see
the latest reports on how they are connected.
Ginger
Ray Christmas wrote:
>Hello Listers,
>
>A query to Ginger:
>I keep looking for any reference to a CHRISTMAS in your reports. Will there eventually be one?
>One rule that some rootswebs use is that any surname is typed in CAPITALS and in this way it is much quicker to scan for any name in which you are interested. Your reports are very long and detailed and using CAPITALS for surnames would speed up scanning.
>
>Kind regards,
>Ray Christmas, from New Zealand,
>mail to:ray.christmas@inspire.net.nz
>
>
>==== CHRISTMAS Mailing List ====
>Christmas Web Page:http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~research/index.htm
>
>
Hunt continues for Texas escapees
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ?Evidence found at a house used by four fugitives
from a Texas jail indicate the only woman in the group has changed her
appearance by cutting her hair, authorities said Sunday.
It was the sixth day on the run for the four -- two convicted of killing
a high school cheerleader and two awaiting trial in another killing.
Fingerprints found in the house in Terral, in southern Oklahoma, were
matched to fugitive Joshua Bagwell, 23, authorities said Saturday.
Investigators also found cigarette butts and jail-issued shoes and a
jumpsuit.
Chrystal Soto, 22, apparently cut her hair there, leaving black locks
with the clothing.
"She has cut it short enough that she might be trying to pass as a
male," said Kym Koch, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation.
The shoes and black-and-white jumpsuit came from the jail in Montague
County, Texas, and the shoes bore Soto's name, said Jefferson County
Undersheriff Martin Matney. The discarded clothing was stuffed in
plastic bags and left in a closet, Matney said.
The discovery led investigators to believe the four fugitives traveled
into Oklahoma together after their escape.
Matney said he believes Curtis Gambill, 24, and Bagwell, 23, are still
in southern Oklahoma because they know the area and have relatives
there. Gambill broke into the same house when he was 10, the
undersheriff said.
Gambill knew that the owner of the house in Terral only used it on
weekends, Matney said.
"When the weekend came up, they knew it was time to leave," he said.
Soto and Charles Jordan, 30, -- both of Bowie, Texas -- might have split
from the other two in a flatbed truck that was taken Friday from a house
in the nearby town of Ryan, Matney said. The truck was found Saturday
about 40 miles away, but a .22-caliber rifle also taken from the house
had not been recovered by Sunday and authorities said they believe the
fugitives are armed.
Gambill's brother, Rick, said his brother was "a born leader" and a
"genius" who could have been an asset to society had it not been for a
few bad turns.
"I hope Curtis is sitting on a beach right now in a (foreign) country,
sipping a cold beer, watching TV and laughing at the Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department and Montague," he told The Oklahoman.
The fugitives fled the Montague County Jail on Monday after two of them
overpowered a guard with a homemade knife.
Feb. 5, 2002, 12:42AM
Lawmen find trail turning cold for four jail escapees
By JIM HENDERSON
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
All-terrain vehicles and mounted deputies continued to prowl the banks
of the Red River on Monday while dozens of state troopers and FBI agents
searched house to house for four Montague County Jail inmates who
escaped last week.
THE FUGITIVES
[Bagwell] <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230254>
. Joshua Luke Bagwell:
<http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230254> Convicted of
capital murder.
[Gambill] <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230214>
. Curtis Allen Gambill:
<http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230214> Convicted of
murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
[Soto] <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230255> . Chrystal
Gale Soto: <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230255> Charged
with two counts of capital murder.
[Jordan] <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230257> . Charles
William Jordan: <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metro/1230257>
Charged with two counts of capital murder.
"I don't know where they are," Montague County Sheriff Chris Hamilton
said with obvious frustration.
The search has concentrated on southern Oklahoma, mostly in Jefferson
County, where two of the fugitives lived before going to prison for
murder in 1997, but has turned up scant evidence of the movements of the
three men and one woman, who have been on the lam for seven days.
Curtis Gambill, 24, and Joshua Bagwell, 23, are serving life sentences
for killing an Oklahoma high school cheerleader and dumping her body in
a Texas creek.
Two other escapees, Charles Jordan, 30, and Chrystal Soto, 22, are
charged with killing an elderly Bowie couple in November.
On Sunday, authorities said they found evidence that the four had
burglarized the weekend home of an Oklahoma City man.
Along with discarded jail clothing and a fingerprint matching Bagwell's,
investigators said they found clumps of black hair, leading them to
believe that Soto had cut her hair to change her appearance.
"She may be trying to pass as a male," Kym Koch, spokeswoman for the
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, told the Associated Press.
Officials suspect the house near Terral was the first place the
fugitives went after the breakout and that they probably spent more than
one night there.
Beds had been slept in, and food scraps and unemptied ash trays
suggested an extended stay.
Gambill had broken into the same house when he was 10, said Jefferson
County Undersheriff Martin Matney, who also said Gambill knew the owner
used it only on weekends.
Another house near Ryan was also burglarized last week, and a
.22-caliber gun and 1975 Chevrolet flatbed pickup were stolen,
authorities said.
The truck was found Saturday about 40 miles away in Lake Murray State Park.
It is not known if the four are still traveling or hiding out together,
and searchers have not located the silver Geo Chevrolet Tracker in which
the four fled from the jail.
The vehicle's owner is a jailer who was overpowered by the escapees
using a homemade knife.
"It's going to be hard to find," Hamilton said. "It has a black top.
They could pull it into some trees and cover it up, and it would be hard
to spot."
Investigators suspect the escapees are receiving help from friends and
relatives in southern Oklahoma.
In an interview with the Daily Oklahoma over the weekend, Gambill's
brother, Rick, said he hopes the fugitives continue to elude authorities.
"I hope Curtis is sitting on a beach right now in a foreign country,
sipping a cold beer, watching TV and laughing at the Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department," Rick Gambill said.
Matney, the Jefferson County undersheriff, said that if anyone is
helping the fugitives, "the full wrath of the law will come down upon
them."
OKLAHOMA CITY, Feb. 4 - Four fugitives from a Texas jail - including
two serving time for the death of an Oklahoma cheerleader - remained on
the run Monday, a week after they overpowered a guard to escape.
Evidence found at a house in Terral used by the fugitives indicate the
only woman in the group has changed her appearance by cutting her hair,
authorities said Sunday.
Authorities said Chrystal Soto, 22, apparently cut her hair, leaving
black locks at the home.
"She has cut it short enough that she might be trying to pass as a
male," said Kym Koch, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation.
Fingerprints found in the house were matched to fugitive Joshua Bagwell,
23, authorities said. Investigators also found cigarette butts and
jail-issued shoes and a jumpsuit.
The jumpsuit came from the jail in Montague County, Texas, and the shoes
bore Soto's name, said Jefferson County Undersheriff Martin Matney. The
discarded clothing was stuffed in plastic bags and left in a closet,
Matney said.
The four fugitives overpowered a jail guard Jan. 28 and took her sport
utility vehicle.
The discovery led investigators to believe the four fugitives traveled
into Oklahoma together after their escape.
Matney said he believes Curtis Gambill, 24, and Bagwell, 23, are still
in southern Oklahoma because they know the area and have relatives there.
Gambill broke into the same house when he was 10 and knew that the owner
of the house only used it on weekends, Matney said.
Soto and Charles Jordan, 30, - both of Bowie, Texas - might have split
from the other two in a flatbed truck taken Friday from a house in the
nearby town of Ryan, Matney said.
The truck was found about 40 miles north Saturday in Lake Murray State
Park, but a .22-caliber rifle also taken from the house had not been
recovered by Sunday.
Authorities said they believe the fugitives are armed.
Bagwell and Gambill were convicted for the 1996 killing of Waurika
cheerleader Heather Rich. Soto and Jordan were awaiting trial on murder
charges.
R E G I O N A L N E W S
<http://www.trnonline.com/stories/02052002/regional_news/29522.shtml#>
Tue, February 5, 2002
A week on the run Leads in search for escapees prove to be dead ends
Jeff Hall, , , Times Record News
Another search, another car chase, another day of freedom for four
escapees from the Montague County Jail.
Law enforcement officers in North Texas and Southern Oklahoma spent
almost an hour Monday afternoon chasing a blue Nissan that supposedly
contained two of the escapees, heading in opposite directions toward
Henrietta and Grandfield, Okla. Neither lead panned out.
The four - two convicted of murder and two being held on murder
charges - overpowered two guards at the jail in Montague just before 11
p.m. Jan. 28, then fled into the night in a SUV owned by one of the guards.
There have been numerous alleged sightings of the four in the week
since the break-out, evidence has been uncovered at a hunting cabin near
Terral linked to at least two of the four and a truck stolen from a farm
house in Ryan, Okla., turned up at a lake about 40 miles away from Ryan
on Saturday, but none of the four have been positively seen since they
ran out a back door of the Texas jail.
The four escapees are Josh Bagwell, 23, of Waurika, Okla.; Curtis
Gambill, 24, of Terral; Charles Jordan, 30, and Chrystal Soto, 22, both
of Bowie.
Gambill and Bagwell were awaiting transfer to a state prison to
continue serving life sentences for murdering Waurika teen-ager Heather
Rich in October 1996. They were back in Montague for Gambill's January
trial on conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Rich's death.
Bagwell was there as a potential witness, but was never called to the
stand in the two-day trial that ended Jan. 15 with a guilty verdict and
a 99-year sentence.
A third man, Randy Wood, 24, of Waurika, was also convicted of murder
in connection with Rich's death and is serving a life sentence at a
prison near Abilene.
Soto and Jordan were being held in the jail on murder charges in
connection with the November 2001 murders of James and Ullaine Christmas
of Bowie. The third man charged in the Christmas' deaths, Willard
Christmas, 17, is currently being held in a jail in Henrietta.
Jefferson County, Okla., Sheriff Stan Barnes said Monday discarded
jail clothing, clumps of black hair and fingerprints matching those of
Bagwell were found Sunday in a burglarized hunting cabin near Terral.
Investigators believe Soto cut her hair at the home, leaving it with
the jail clothing.
"She cut it short enough that she might be trying to pass as a
(man)," said Kym Koch, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation.
The shoes and a black-and-white jumpsuit came from the Montague jail
and the shoes bore Soto's name, Jefferson County Undersheriff Martin
Matney said Sunday.
Gambill burglarized the same house when he was 10, Matney said, and
knew the owner of the house lives in Oklahoma City and only visited the
house on weekends.
A .22-caliber rifle was stolen from the farmhouse near Ryan along
with the truck, but was not found when the truck was located at Elephant
Park at Lake Murray south of Ardmore, Okla.
Meanwhile, Gambill's grandmother, Reda Robbins of Terral, said Sunday
she is praying there is "no more bloodshed" and hopes her grandson
surrenders or is captured unharmed.
"If he gave himself up, at least we'd be able to see him," said
Robbins. "If he got killed, we'd have to bury him."
Robbins said the entire case is a tragedy, and sympathizes with the
family of Heather Rich.
"My heart goes out to the Rich family really, really deeply - no one
should go through what they've gone through," she said.
Robbins said she holds the county government in Montague County at
least partially responsible for this past week.
"Montague County committed a crime also, a big crime, because they
allowed these boys to escape," she said. "I don't believe these two
(Bagwell and Gambill) are born killers."
Web News Editor Jeff Hall may be contacted at (940) 763-7596, (800)
627-1646, ext. 596, or by email at hallj(a)wtr.com.
Truck taken during burglary located
02/02/2002
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - A pickup truck believed stolen from a rural Oklahoma
residence by four Texas jail escapees was recovered at a nearby state
park Saturday, but authorities said the search for the escapees continued.
< http://a1416.g.akamai.net/f/1416/744/1d/www.wfaa.com/img/02-
02/020202escapees.jpg
<http://a1416.g.akamai.net/f/1416/744/1d/www.wfaa.com/img/02-02/020202esca...>
>
The blue-and-white flatbed truck, reported missing on Friday from a
residence in Jefferson County, was reported at Lake Murray State Park in
adjacent Carter County by a passerby about 9:30 a.m., said Richard Goss,
an inspector with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
"It has been recovered," Goss said. He said authorities were processing
the vehicle for fingerprints and other evidence but that there was no
indication of how long the vehicle had been at the park.
Authorities said the truck's discovery outside of Jefferson County had
widened the search for the suspects, Curtis Gambill, Joshua Bagwell,
Chrystal Gale Soto and Charles Jordan.
The four fled the Montague County, Texas, jail Monday night after
overpowering a guard and taking her sport utility vehicle.
Related
<http://www.wfaa.com/images/news/icons/video_icon.gif > Watch Jim
Douglas's report
Investigators believe the inmates stole the flatbed truck and a
.22-caliber revolver from a Ryan man's home, although comparisons of
fingerprints found at the scene were inconclusive. Ryan is just north of
Terral, which is across the Red River from Texas.
A second burglary in the area also was being investigated for possible
ties to the first burglary and to the inmates. Clothing was stolen in
that burglary, authorities said.
At least 100 officers were involved in Friday's search, some checking
houses in Grady, 17 miles east of Terral. Roadblocks were set up, and
aircraft combed the area.
"We're going door to door. We're going to every residence, every barn,"
Jefferson County Sheriff Stanley Barnes said late Friday.
Bagwell, 24 of Terral, and Gambill, 23, of Waurika, were convicted in
the 1996 killing of Waurika High School cheerleader Heather Rich. Bowie,
Texas, residents Soto, 22, and Jordan, 30, were awaiting trial on
charges of killing a Texas couple in November.
Jefferson County Undersheriff Martin Matney said Soto and Jordan may no
longer be with Gambill and Bagwell, who have strong ties to the region.
Gambill's mother, Shirley Gambill, is the city clerk in Terral, and his
brother, Rick Gambill, also lives in Terral.
"It's a possibility they've split up, but we really don't know," Matney
said.
The stolen flatbed truck had a cattle feeder in the bed and was taken
from a residence belonging to Dennis Goss Sr. Goss told authorities he
believed one of the burglars was Gambill because he once knew Gambill,
and Gambill knew where the man left a key to a hidden safe.
"They knew exactly where the key was to a safe that used to be there,"
Barnes said. "He moved everything."
Authorities traced the path of the truck down Highway 32 because feed
had spilled out the back, but it didn't lead them to the vehicle.
Fingerprints put escapee in Terral
2002-02-03
By Penny Owen
The Oklahoman
TERRAL -- Fingerprints found in a Terral home that had been broken into
and slept in matched those of Joshua Bagwell, one of four escapees from
a Texas jail who has been on the lam since Monday.
Also Saturday, a tip led authorities to the 1975 flatbed pickup stolen
from Dennis Goss Sr., a Ryan farmer. His home was burglarized Friday,
and a .22-caliber handgun was taken by someone who knew the location of
a key to get it. It had six rounds of ammunition.
Goss' late son had been friends with the other escapee from Oklahoma,
convicted murderer Curtis Gambill, 24, of Terral.
Bagwell, 23, is from Waurika, about 20 miles away. Both were convicted
of the 1996 shooting death of Waurika High School cheerleader Heather
Rich, 16. Her body was dumped in Montague County.
Gambill and Bagwell were in the Montague County jail just across the
Texas border awaiting transfer back to the Texas prison system when they
escaped with two other inmates.
The other two escapees, Chrystal Gale Soto, 22, and Charles Jordan, 30,
were being held on capital murder complaints in the slaying of an
elderly Texas couple. They have connections in Washington and Alaska,
among other states. Authorities believe the group has probably split by now.
Meanwhile, Goss' blue-and-white pickup turned up about 8:30 a.m.
Saturday in a camping lot at Lake Murray's Elephant Park in Carter
County, where the search has widened. Jefferson County Sheriff Stanley
Barnes said footprints found nearby led into a wooded area.
Whoever stole the pickup in Ryan eluded authorities for about 50 miles
before abandoning at Elephant Park.
Timing calculations indicated that whoever stole the pickup, which had a
full cattle feeder on back, may have had a six- to eight- hour lead on
authorities.
However, confirmation that Bagwell was indeed in the area has
reinvigorated a weary weeklong search that had virtually gone cold until
Friday.
Two separate home break-ins also were linked Saturday because
undisclosed articles taken from a home near Terral were found in Goss' home.
The Terral house, which is a weekend home for an Oklahoma City man, had
two beds that had been slept in, cigarette butts in coasters, food eaten
and clothes taken, Barnes said.
"At least one of them was in the area, because his prints were
confirmed," the sheriff said.
The manhunt now includes search dogs and authorities from more than a
dozen agencies on both sides of the border, including the FBI, U.S.
marshals, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Highway
Patrol, Texas Rangers and local agencies.
Residences and barns in the area have been checked daily for suspicious
activity, while game wardens and search teams combed the Red River
banks, which Gambill knows well.
"Gambill could survive on the river for weeks at a time," Barnes said.
"He knew every cave."
Roadblocks on various roads and highways have sporadically been put up
and taken down since Friday.
All the while, locals in the small towns of Terral and Waurika buzzed
with speculation in cafes, gasoline stations and the few other gathering
places in this sparsely populated area.
"I never thought they'd be dumb enough to come back here," said Jerry
Wallace of Waurika, a town with about 2,088 people.
In Terral, where 469 Oklahomans reside, the community center has been
turned into a command post with an alphabet soup of law enforcement
zipping in and out, most wearing bulletproof vests and some carrying
shotguns.
The activity is within view of the home of Rick Gambill, the escapee's
older brother. He stood momentarily on his front porch Saturday,
watching the activity. An American flag hung from his home and his
Christmas lights were still up.
"They turned this 200-man town into a 1,000-man circus," he said. "It's
going to give this town months of gossip."
Gambill, an immigration guard for the Jefferson County Detention Center,
berated some law enforcement, in particular, the Montague County
District Attorney, for hounding his family since his brother's
conviction. He called Curtis Gambill "a born leader" and a "genius" who
could have been an asset to society had it not been for a few bad turns.
"I hope Curtis is sitting on a beach right now in a (foreign) country,
sipping a cold beer, watching TV and laughing at the Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department and Montague," Rick Gambill said.
That likelihood faded quickly Saturday. In a more realistic moment,
Gambill found it tough to contemplate how it would all end.
"I just hope these guys here will talk before they squeeze," Rick
Gambill said of the looming confrontation. "I hope it ends peacefully. I
hope the right person at the right time in law enforcement is there to
keep it that way."
Sheriff Barnes said authorities intended to act cautiously, considering
the escapees' dangerous backgrounds.
"We don't want anyone to get hurt," he said. "But we don't want to get
hurt either."
R E G I O N A L N E W S
Sun, February 3, 2002
Search goes on Escapees still at large after fourth day
John Ingle, , , Times Record News
Day four of the search for four escaped convicts focused on the area
around a blue and white flatbed pickup truck found Saturday morning
south of Ardmore, Okla., at nearby Lake Murray.
A Carter County Sheriff's Office spokesman said the pickup was located
by one of its deputies at about 10 a.m.
The truck was stolen from a farm a few miles east of Ryan, Okla. A
.22-caliber pistol was also taken. Officials wouldn't say if the weapon
was in the truck when it was found.
The Jefferson County undersheriff confirmed that one of the escapees,
Josh Bagwell, was in Jefferson County, Okla., at some point.
"We have positive information that Josh Bagwell has been in Jefferson
County," Martin Matney said. "We believe he is in the company of Curtis
Gambill."
Gambill, 24, and Bagwell, 23, are from Ryan and Waurika, Okla.
Officials believe they returned to the area they grew up in because they
are familiar with the surroundings.
But that hasn't deterred the more than 100 law enforcement officers
hunting the area.
"We are going to turn over every rock and leaf to see if they are in
this area," Matney said.
Gambill, Bagwell, Chrystal Soto, 22, and Charles Jordan, 30, escaped
from the Montague County Jail Monday night after overpowering two female
guards. They fled the area in a Chevy Tracker owned by one of the guards.
Bagwell and Gambill were sentenced to life in prison for the 1996
murder of Waurika High School cheerleader Heather Rich. Soto and Jordan
were being held for allegedly taking part in the death of an elderly
Bowie couple.
The pickup was combed for evidence Saturday in an attempt to confirm
the escapees took it.
Richard Goss, an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations inspector,
said the agency is looking for fingerprints and other evidence left in
the truck. He said there was no indication how long the vehicle had been
at the park.
The agencies involved in the search are following procedures for the
manhunt, an OSBI spokeswoman said. Officers are following up on
information and running down leads.
"We're in a focused area now," Kym Koch said. "But if we get
information about another area, we'll go there."
Matney said Soto and Jordan might not be with Gambill and Bagwell, who
have strong ties to the region.
"It's a possibility they've split up, but we really don't know,"
Matney said. "I have a feeling that happened a couple of days ago."
Three teams of dogs, men on horseback, a law enforcement helicopter
were put to work early Saturday afternoon in the area around the lake. A
Federal Bureau of Investigation agent said they would not stop until the
convicts were captured.
"This is rugged terrain, so we're using 4-wheel vehicles and just
about anything we can use," agent Richard Marquise said. "We're going to
use whatever it takes to find these people."
A $40,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of
the four escapees.
"We are asking citizens to phone the task force hot line ... or their
local law enforcement if they see any suspicious activity," Matney said.
"These men are armed and extremely dangerous and citizens should not try
to approach these individuals."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Police reporter John Ingle may be contacted at (940) 763-7532, (800)
627-1646 Ext. 532 or by e-mail at inglej(a)wtr.com.
Jail jumpsuit, shoes found in burglarized Oklahoma home
02/03/2002
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY ? Four Texas escapees on the run for a sixth day ditched
clothes, jail-issued shoes and a jumpsuit at a southern Oklahoma home
where they slept and ate, authorities said Sunday.
The woman among the fugitives, Chrystal Soto, apparently cut her hair
there ? leaving black locks with the clothing.
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"She has cut it short enough that she might be trying to pass as a
male," said Kym Koch, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation.
The black-and-white jumpsuit and shoes came from a jail in Montague
County, Texas, and the shoes had Soto's name on them, said Jefferson
County Undersheriff Martin Matney. The items, including jeans and
shirts, were stuffed in plastic bags and put in a closet in the home, he
said.
The discovery led investigators to believe the four fugitives ? who also
include Charles Jordan, Curtis Gambill and Joshua Bagwell ? traveled
north across the Red River together, but that they may have split up
since then.
Matney said he believes Gambill, 24, and Bagwell, 23, are still in far
southern Oklahoma because they know the area and have many relatives
there. Gambill broke into the same Terral home when he was 10 years old,
the undersheriff said.
Soto and Jordan ? Bowie, Texas, residents accused of killing a couple ?
might have split from the other two fugitives in a flatbed truck taken
from a home near Ryan, also in Jefferson County, Matney said. A
.22-caliber rifle was taken from that residence.
The truck was found about 40 miles north in Lake Murray State Park on
Saturday.
Detectives had not found any fingerprints or evidence in the truck by
Sunday, Koch said.
Investigators on Saturday matched fingerprints found in the Terral home
to Bagwell. They also discovered two beds in the home that had been
slept in, cigarette butts in coasters, as well as missing food and clothes.
The home is a weekend residence for an Oklahoma City man. Gambill knew
that the man lived there only on weekends, Matney said.
"When the weekend came up, they knew it was time to leave," he said.
Matney said that if Gambill's relatives are helping him "the full wrath
of the law will come down upon them."
Gambill's brother Rick said his brother was "a born leader" and a
"genius" who could have been an asset to society had it not been for a
few bad turns.
"I hope Curtis is sitting on a beach right now in a (foreign) country,
sipping a cold beer, watching TV and laughing at the Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department and Montague," he told The Oklahoman.
The four fugitives overpowered a jail guard Monday night and took her
sport utility vehicle. Bagwell and Gambill were convicted in the 1996
killing of Waurika cheerleader Heather Rich.
Soto, 22, and Jordan, 30, were awaiting trial on murder charges.
Feb. 3, 2002, 10:09AM
Escapee fingerprints found in burglarized Okla. house
By TIM TALLEY
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Investigators Saturday matched fingerprints found in a
burglarized home to one of four inmates who escaped from a Texas jail.
The fingerprints found in the house in Terral belonged to Joshua
Bagwell, who along with Curtis Gambill, Chrystal Soto and Charles Jordan
fled the Montague County, Texas, jail on Monday.
Investigators also discovered two beds that had been slept in, cigarette
butts in coasters, eaten food and some missing clothes at the
burglarized house, which is a weekend residence for an Oklahoma City
man, Jefferson County Sheriff Stanley Barnes said.
"At least one of them was in the area, because his prints were
confirmed," Barnes said. An analysis of fingerprints taken from another
burglarized home in nearby Ryan was inconclusive, officials said.
Also Saturday, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies
converged on the Lake Murray State Park after a Carter County sheriff's
deputy spotted a blue-and-white 1975 Chevrolet flatbed truck that had
been missing from the Ryan residence, said Kym Koch, spokeswoman for the
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
"We're still processing the vehicle," Koch said Saturday evening.
Richard Goss, an OSBI inspector, said the agency is looking for
fingerprints and other evidence left in the truck. Investigators
calculated that whoever stole the truck, which had a full cattle feeder
on back, may have had a six- to eight-hour lead on authorities.
Meanwhile, Gambill's brother, Rick, who lives in the area, said his
brother was "a born leader" and a "genius" who could have been an asset
to society had it not been for a few bad turns.
"I hope Curtis is sitting on a beach right now in a (foreign) country,
sipping a cold beer, watching TV and laughing at the Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department and Montague," said Rick Gambill, who works as an
immigration guard at the Jefferson County Detention Center.
Confirmation that Bagwell was in the area breathed new life into the
weeklong search.
"We're not going to leave here until they're caught," Barnes said.
"We're going to stick it out until the end."
Jefferson County Undersheriff Martin Matney said authorities had widened
their search following the truck's discovery.
"It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger," Matney said. But he said
the search remains intense in Jefferson County, where Gambill, 24, and
Bagwell, 23, grew up and where authorities believe all four escapees may
have been hiding.
Investigators on Friday learned of the burglary in Ryan, where the truck
and a .22-caliber revolver were taken. Ryan is just north of Bagwell's
hometown of Terral in Jefferson County, which is across the Red River
from Texas.
The flatbed truck was taken from a residence belonging to Dennis Goss
Sr. Goss told authorities he believed one of the burglars was Gambill
because he once knew Gambill through his son, who has since died.
Gambill knew where the man left a key to a hidden safe, he said.
"They knew exactly where the key was to a safe that used to be there,"
Barnes said. "He moved everything."
Authorities traced the path of the truck down Highway 32 because feed
had spilled out the back, but it didn't lead them to the vehicle.
The four overpowered a guard Monday night and took her sport utility
vehicle. Bagwell and Gambill, of Waurika, were convicted in the 1996
killing of Waurika cheerleader Heather Rich. Bowie, Texas, residents
Soto, 22, and Jordan, 30, were awaiting trial on charges of killing a
Texas couple in November.
Matney said Soto and Jordan may no longer be with Gambill and Bagwell.
"It's a possibility they've split up, but we really don't know," Matney
said. "I have a feeling that happened a couple of days ago."
As the possibility increased that his brother could be in the area and
captured soon, Rick Gambill said he hoped for a nonviolent end.
"I just hope these guys here will talk before they squeeze," Rick
Gambill said of the looming confrontation. "I hope it ends peacefully. I
hope the right person at the right time in law enforcement is there to
keep it that way."
Barnes said authorities intended to act cautiously, considering the
escapees' dangerous backgrounds.
"We don't want anyone to get hurt," Barnes said. "But we don't want to
get hurt either."
R E G I O N A L N E W S
Tue, February 5, 2002
Gambill's grandmother seeks his safety
Jeff Hall, , Times Record News
TERRAL, Okla. - Reda Robbins, like many people in southern Oklahoma,
wants to see Curtis Gambill back behind bars.
But she has a different, more personal reason.
"If he gave himself up, at least we'd be able to see him," said
Robbins, Gambill's grandmother. "If he got killed, we'd have to bury him."
Gambill, along with Josh Bagwell, Charles Jordan and Chrystal Soto,
broke out of the Montague County Jail exactly one week ago. Gambill and
Bagwell were awaiting a transfer back to a state penitentiary to
continue serving life sentences for the murder of Waurika, Okla.,
teen-ager Heather Rich in October 1996.
Jordan and Soto were being held in the jail on murder charges in
connection with the November 2001 murder of James and Ullaine Christmas
of Bowie - Soto's grandparents.
Sitting outside her modest frame home in Terral Sunday afternoon,
Robbins said people in the area don't understand the 24-year-old man she
has known, literally, since birth.
"Curtis was raised in a loving family, loving parents, a loving
brother, a loving sister. He had birthday parties, we took him fishing,
we had family vacations," she said. "Curtis isn't who they say he is."
The "they," Robbins said, is mainly Montague County District Attorney
Tim Cole, whom she accuses of having a personal grudge against her
grandson, and Montague County Sheriff Chris Hamilton. Cole has
characterized Gambill as one of the most dangerous criminals he has ever
prosecuted, while Hamilton called Gambill "pure damn evil."
Robbins said she knows she is biased toward her grandson, but said
drugs, a stint in a juvenile detention facility when he was 15 and
especially the death of his best friend just months before Rich's murder
changed Curtis Gambill.
"He really changed after his friend, Dennis Wayne Goss, was killed,"
she said.
"I think he was trying to find out who killed Dennis, and that's when
he started hanging out with Josh and Randy (Wood) and those other kids
who were into drugs."
Wood, Rich's ex-boyfriend, was also convicted in her murder and is
also serving a life sentence. Goss's death was ruled a suicide by the
Jefferson County Sheriff's Department in 1996, and a medical examiner's
report said there was no evidence to conclusively dispute that ruling.
Nevertheless, many people in western Jefferson County believe Goss was
murdered, possibly because of his involvement with drugs.
Robbins said she had agreed to talk to a producer of Fox TV's
"America's Most Wanted" program in hopes of sparing her grandson's life.
"These boys need to be caught ... I would do anything to save his
life. I don't think these boys are dangerous, but anyone who's cornered
could do anything," she said.
She is also afraid Curtis might commit suicide if faced with capture,
and is concerned that overzealous law enforcement officers might
overreact, she said.
"I feel like there's a lot of law people around here who would shoot
him on sight," Robbins said.
Robbins said Gambill's father, mother and brother have refused to talk
with the media because they are afraid their words would be twisted and
used out of context. But the entire situation has been "devastating" to
the entire family, particularly Curtis' father.
"He's the sweetest guy in the world and this is really killing him,"
she said.
Robbins is no stranger to violent tragedy. Almost 20 years ago her
mother was murdered by infamous killer Henry Lee Lucas.
But this is somewhat worse, she said.
"It's about the hardest time in my life. I'm praying almost
constantly...that there's no bloodshed."
Contact Web News Editor Jeff Hall at hallj(a)wtr.com or call (940)
763-7596 or 1-800-627-1646, ext. 596.