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A Utah cop kept explicit photos of a terrified college track star who was being sextorted by her ex — and showed them off to a colleague just days before the young athlete was murdered, according to his force and a damning report Sunday. University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey, 21, went to campus cops in October 2018 because she was so scared of her blackmailer — twisted ex Melvin Rowland, 37, a registered sex offender — she had already paid an initial $1,000 demand, the Salt Lake Tribune said. Officer Miguel Deras then saved the explicit images onto his...

Authorities have captured an Arizona prison escapee and an alleged accomplice who have been on the run since last month, the Arizona Department of Corrections said late Thursday. John McCluskey and Casslyn Mae Welch were arrested in the Springerville, Arizona-area, according to the department. McCluskey, 45, was serving a 15-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder and other charges when he and fellow convicts Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick broke out of the prison July 30, allegedly with Welch's help. Province and Renwick are already in custody. Welch, who was on the visitation list for one of the inmates, threw cutting...

(Associated Press Writer) (AP) — An Arizona fugitive's accomplice was acting as a drug mule for a white supremacy group and agreed to become a police informant weeks before she helped him escape from prison, authorities said Friday. Casslyn Welch, and her fiance and cousin John McCluskey, are now considered among the most wanted fugitives in America after authorities say Welch helped McCluskey and two other men escape...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP): Authorities say the accomplice to an Arizona fugitive was acting as a drug mule for a white supremacy group weeks before she helped him escape from prison. But Casslyn Mae Welch wasn't charged with narcotics violations until she was tied to the escape of three inmates from the Arizona state prison near Kingman. Mohave County sheriff's spokeswoman Trish Carter says investigators were performing random checks of vehicles in the prison's parking lot in June when they discovered what was believed to be marijuana and heroin in Welch's vehicle. Welch was visiting her fiance and cousin, John McCluskey,...

EDMONTON — RCMP say law enforcement officials on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border are on "high alert" for an escaped Arizona inmate and his suspected accomplice. The fresh warning follows word that federal authorities south of the border appear baffled as to the whereabouts of John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch. The search for the couple abruptly turned from Montana to Arkansas on Wednesday when a pair matching their description robbed a beauty salon in the town of Gentry. However, the owner of the salon was shown pictures of the fugitives and is certain they were not the couple who...

GENTRY, Ark. — The hunt for two people sought in connection with the killing of an Oklahoma couple continued Thursday in Arkansas, despite statements from local authorities the fugitives are likely not in the area, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. [snip] A black helicopter was visible Wednesday as it crossed back and forth over the rural community and the wooded outlying area while a Benton County, Ark., command post was set up south of Gentry as authorities searched for the couple who robbed the salon. "They got through our perimeter in the dark hours," said Keith Smith, Gentry police...

PHOENIX — The U.S. Marshal for Arizona says an escaped inmate and his fiance may be in Arkansas. David Gonzales says a couple who robbed a store Wednesday morning in Gentry, Ark., fits the description of John McCluskey and his fiancee, Casslyn Welch. Gentry is in northwest Arkansas, near Bentonville, where Welch's mother lives. Gonzales says they are trying to obtain surveillance film from the robbery. McCluskey and Welch have eluded authorities since he and two other inmates escaped from an Arizona prison on June 30. McCluskey and Welch were last seen in Montana near the Canadian border.

VANCOUVER -- RCMP are warning the public to be on the lookout for U.S. fugitives John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch. These individuals are wanted by U.S. authorities after escaping from an Arizona prison on July 30. They may also be involved in a homicide, police warn. Law enforcement on both sides of the border are on high alert. While there is no information to confirm these fugitives have entered Canada, their whereabouts are unknown and police fear they may have crossed the border undetected.

One of the three convicted murderers who escaped from an Arizona prison has been linked to the deaths of a couple found in a burned-out camper, police said. Forensic evidence links John McCluskey to the crime scene where two bodies were found in a camper near Santa Rosa, N.M., Arizona State Police Maj. Robert Shilling said, KOB-TV, Albuquerque, N.M., reported. McCluskey escaped July 30 from the Arizona State Prison near Kingman with fellow inmates Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick, who was caught in Colorado after a police chase and shootout. McCluskey's mother, Claudia Washburn, 68, was arrested Saturday at the...