Manhunt resumes after girl spots duo

Police in the Four Corners region renewed an aggressive search for two fugitives believed to have killed a Colorado police officer after a teenage girl spotted the men trying to steal a 1,500 gallon water truck in Montezuma Creek, Sunday.

Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, of Dove Creek, Colo., and Jason McVean, 28, of Durango, Colo. haven't been seen since they shot and killed Cortez, Colo., police officer Dale Claxton on May 29.About 50 officers from Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, including the Navajo Nation Reservation police and FBI agents are involved in the recharged search, Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said.

Officers have set up a command post at the Montezuma Creek fire station, and Capt. Dill Hillgartner of the Navajo Nation police is directing search efforts from there.

The young girl spotted the men "messing around with a water truck" about 9 p.m. at Lee's Trucking in Montezuma Creek, Lane said. Montezuma Creek is a reservation town of about 380 residents, 14 miles east of Bluff.

Lane said the girl accurately described the two men, including Pilon's limp, the result of a motorcycle accident last winter. The girl also identified the men from photographs, he said.

"It's the best sighting that we've had," he said, although he declined to predict that the sighting would lead to the fugitives' arrest. "I'm not going to predict anything. But the bloodhounds were on to some pretty good leads (Tuesday) night at dark. Maybe we'll know something later (Wednesday)."

But Sunday's lead is far from being the first time area residents have said the men were in the area during the past month, San Juan County Commissioner and Navajo Tribal Council representative Mark Maryboy said.

"People have been saying they've seen the men at the Squaw Dances that are going on; that they've had food stolen from their homes; kids fishing on the river have said they've seen 'em and given them fish; and the town drunks have said they were drinking beer with these guys down by the river," Maryboy said. "But who's going to believe them?"

But police have had more tips like that than they could possibly follow, Lane said.

"The tough part is figuring out which ones are legitimate and need to be followed and which ones aren't," he said.

Efforts to snare the fugitives have been dramatically scaled back from early June, when more than 51 agencies and 500 officers spent five days in the region combing the river banks, bluffs and high deseret canyons.