Manhunt for accused Mississippi killer ends in Kansas
JACKSON, Miss. — A man wanted in connection with a string of crimes in three states, including two homicides in Mississippi, was captured Wednesday after a fiery crash in Kansas.
Alex Bridges Deaton, 28, originally from Dixon, Miss., is accused of beginning a nearly 2,000-mile crime spree by killing his girlfriend late last week. The body of Heather Robinson, 30, was found Friday inside her home at a Brandon, Miss., apartment complex about 15 miles northwest of Jackson but authorities believe that she was killed earlier.
Her white GMC Acadia SUV was missing.
Thursday night, Brenda Strickland Pinter, 69, of Dixon was found dead inside the office of Dixon Baptist Church. She had gone to church to clean it, and Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell said a white SUV had been in the church parking lot shortly before Pinter arrived.
On Friday before sunrise, the driver of a white SUV shot a jogger in the leg less than 2 miles from Robinson's apartment.
On Saturday morning, Tulsa, Okla., authorities confirmed that they had seen Robinson's white SUV, launching an out-of-state manhunt.
Deaton sent a series of texts, some incriminating, to friends and family before he went silent Saturday, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said.
Then on Tuesday night, Mississippi authorities received a call from the Bernalillo and Sandoval counties sheriffs' offices in New Mexico. They had found Robinson's SUV but with a stolen Missouri license plate.
A man whom the victims identified as Deaton came out of a wooded area in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, approaching a couple parked in the La Luz Trailhead lot. He is accused of taking their car at gunpoint with the couple still inside.
► Related: Orlando police: Accused police killer Markeith Loyd captured
The male victim attempted to escape as the carjacker drove along a Forest Service road, authorities said. During a struggle, Deaton is accused of firing shots that struck the man in his buttocks and grazed the woman.
The man was able to get out of the car, but Deaton is accused of continuing his drive with the woman though she also was eventually able to escape. Deaton allegedly fled in the couple's white Honda Civic.
By early Wednesday, deputies in the Kiowa County Sheriff's Department in central Kansas were calling as they pursued the stolen Civic.
They chased the car into the city limits of Pratt, Kansas, and were able to stop the vehicle with stop sticks. But its driver ran away.
Authorities then accuse Deaton of doubling back to head into a convenience store. At around 4:15 a.m. CT, a man took the keys of a store clerk's black Cadillac at gunpoint and shot the man; the clerk is in critical condition.
► Related: Police: Suspect in Ga. cop-killing took his own life; 2nd officer dies
At about 7:50 a.m. on Interstate 70, Kansas Highway Patrol troopers attempted to stop a black Cadillac that matched the description of the clerk's stolen car, according to a news release.
The driver did not stop and continued eastbound at a high rate of speed, so troopers deployed spike sticks. To avoid those, the driver exited I-70 and drove south toward the town of Wilson.
Because troopers didn't want the vehicle to reach the town, they were able to end the pursuit at about 8 a.m. by coming up behind the car and tapping its side, a technique known as tactical vehicle intervention.
► Related: Fugitive baby-killer captured in New Jersey
The Cadillac crashed and caught fire. The driver, Deaton, was arrested immediately, and neither Deaton nor any troopers were injured.
It was not immediately known what charges were filed against Deaton though he will face charges including murder and aggravated assault in Mississippi. Bailey, the Rankin County sheriff, said Mississippi authorities will seek Deaton's extradition, and Kansas officials have agreed to hand him over.
Follow Therese Apel on Twitter: @TRex21