Fugitive sighting reported in St. Mary

The search Tuesday for an escaped convict from Arizona and a suspected accomplice appeared to be moving north to Canada following a potential sighting on the east side of Glacier National Park.

Marshals say there have been multiple tips from towns in Alberta since someone reported seeing Casslyn Welch at a restaurant in St. Mary on Monday morning about 20 miles south of the border.

Arizona Supervisory Deputy Marshall Tom Henman said authorities have opened communication channels with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while continuing to search across Western Montana. A Border Patrol helicopter has also joined the effort.

Henman said additional tips have arrived from as far away as Pennsylvania and Indiana, where the fugitives have connections and family.

“[The focus] has moved north since within the last day, but their movements have been so unpredictable that we can’t know if that’s their goal, to get across the border,” Henman said.

Tracy Province, John McCluskey and Daniel Renwick escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison near Kingman on July 30 after authorities say Welch threw wire cutters over the perimeter fence. Welch, 44, is McCluskey’s fiancee and cousin.

Renwick was taken into custody on Aug. 1 in Colorado.

Authorities believe the two remaining inmates and Welch went to Wyoming, where Province separated from McCluskey and Welch at the southern entrance to Yellowstone. Province was captured in Meeteetse, Wyo., on Monday.

The focus of the search moved to Northwest Montana after someone Tuesday morning reported seeing Welch at a restaurant in St. Mary, an unincorporated area on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation adjacent to Glacier National Park.

Park spokesperson Wade Muehlhof said the National Park Service is working as an assisting agency. He was unaware of any additional sightings of the pair in or near the park, but said there has been an increased effort to make sure all rangers have information and pictures pertinent to the search.

“We do have some extra folks on duty on the east side,” Muehlhof said.

Glacier County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Jeff Fauque said he was not aware of any additional sightings in and around St. Mary since the initial report Monday morning either. He said the office has four deputies currently engaged in the search.

Montana’s acting U.S. marshal, Rod Ostermiller, said the couple — who reportedly fashion themselves as a modern Bonnie and Clyde — should be considered armed and dangerous.

“That’s something we can’t stress enough,” Ostermiller said.

Flathead County’s Sheriff’s Office Patrol Commander Geno Cook said the office began communicating with the U.S. Marshall’s Service Tuesday. Henman said marshals would likely only contact local agencies if there was a credible sighting in the area, but Cook said there is no reason to believe either of them have been in the Flathead County area.

Local law enforcement agencies have received scattered reports of potential sightings, but nothing that has been confirmed. Ostermiller said similar reports have flowed in from across the state as media coverage has broadened.

“We don’t have anything to indicate they’ve been up here,” Cook said.

Forensic evidence has linked at least one of the fugitives to the killings of an Oklahoma couple, according to authorities. New Mexico State Police spokesman Peter Olson declined to elaborate to the Associated Press.

The badly burned skeletal remains of Linda and Gary Haas — both 61 and from Tecumseh, Okla. — were found in a charred camper  Aug. 4 on a remote ranch in eastern New Mexico. Their pickup truck was found later 100 miles west in Albuquerque.

McCluskey was serving a 15-year prison term for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm out of Maricopa County, Ariz. Province was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery out of Pima County, Ariz.

Province, 42, appeared in court in Cody, Wyo., on Tuesday. He waived the right to fight extradition to Arizona and signed a waiver form in handcuffs. Authorities expected him to be sent back to Arizona this week.

The Arizona attorney general’s office also on Monday charged two women, including McCluskey’s mother, with helping the inmates after they escaped.

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.