Manhunt captures fugitives

By Ethan Smith

for the Bigfork Eagle

One of the biggest manhunts in the state ended less than 24 hours after it began, with the capture of two men who had escaped from the Montana State Prison. They were caught in the Swan Valley last Wednesday, the result of an intense search effort coordinated by the Lake County Sheriff's office.

The capture of Kelly Frank and William Willcutt put an end to a statewide effort that began Friday, June 8, when the two apparently escaped using a 1965 truck that was part of the equipment on the work release program they were assigned to.

The prisoners' capture was the result of hard work from more than a dozen state agencies, coordinated by Sheriff Lucky Larson, starting last Tuesday, June 12, and ending in the capture of Willcutt at about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 13.

The capture of both men came down to timing and good old-fashioned, heads-up police work, starting with Frank's capture Wednesday by Undersheriff Jay Doyle, after local agencies were put on alert Tuesday afternoon that the men might be in the area.

While the manhunt intensified June 12 after Forest Service personnel saw two men bathing in a creek near a makeshift campground off Hwy. 83, Frank's capture came on the heels of a phone call from a family member of Willcutt, telling the Sheriff's office that they had a cabin near Flathead Lake that Willcutt might try to get to.

"The uncle of Willcutt actually called our office. He didn't know if it would be important," Doyle said. He told us, 'My nephew was fond of going there, [but] I don't know if he'll go there."

Thus, with the news that Willcutt's uncle owned a cabin near the lake, the Sheriff had deputies staking the cabin out, which resulted in Frank's capture Wednesday morning shortly before 11 a.m.

Deputies watched the cabin Tuesday, but they were relieved from duty that night once darkness prevented them from seeing their target. The next morning, on a hunch, Doyle decided to check the cabin in case something had happened during the night.

Something had happened, but it wasn't at that cabin. The action, it turned out, was next door.

Doyle was backing out of the driveway when he heard the sound of broken glass, and looked up in time to see a window shade being drawn at the cabin next door to the Willcutt family's cabin. He drove to a safe location and called for back-up.

With deputies Becky McClintock, Levi Read and Jeff Ford, and Highway Patrol troopers Jim Sanderson and Jason Fetterhoff surrounding the house, Doyle convinced the person to come outside after about a half hour of negotiation.

At 10:45 a.m. Frank emerged onto the cabin's porch, and was arrested without incident.

The fact that he'd chosen the cabin next to the one owned by Willcutt's uncle turned out to be a complete coincidence, Doyle said.

Under brief questioning later that day by detective Lt. Mike Sargeant, Frank said his feet were hurting so much that he just wanted to soak them in the cool waters of Flathead Lake, Doyle said.

"That's called 'professional law enforcement,'" Larson said of his undersheriff's hunch to check the Willcutt family cabin Wednesday morning.

Frank had reason to want to soak his feet. After Forest Service personnel surprised the two men bathing in Lost Creek Tuesday afternoon, they took off running, and Frank had only a pair of pants on, Larson reported. Frank eventually traveled an estimated 10 miles over Crane Mountain Tuesday night, barefoot and shirtless, only to pick a cabin next to the one being watched by Sheriff's deputies.

Frank, 45, had attracted most of the media attention in the escape because he was once accused of trying to kidnap David Letterman's son, but was serving a 10-year sentence for theft for apparently ripping off Letterman on a contracting job. Frank had also been convicted of intimidation, and was serving a concurrent 10-year sentence for that, according to information from the state corrections Web site.

Willcutt, 22, has a history of convictions for theft, and had been denied parole a few months earlier. His arrest came later in the day Wednesday, at a Swan Valley ranch, in circumstances that were far more dangerous.

The ranch family was working outside most of the day when they returned to the house. Inside, they noticed some items that were out of place, and a gun missing, and immediately left the house and drove to the command post set up near Swan Lake.

"They were home, outside, when he [Willcutt] got there. They were working on their property," Larson said.

After talking to the family, authorities were convinced Willcutt was in the house, and the Missoula SWAT team, which was there at the command post, was activated and sent to the home. After surrounding the house, they were able to arrest Willcutt without incident at about 3:30 Wednesday afternoon.

Willcutt's arrest concluded what could have been a potentially dangerous situation, after authorities found out the two men had stolen some weapons, and a vehicle, in Anaconda.

The entire incident began with a report of an abandoned vehicle in the Swan Lake area, on the evening of Monday, June 11. A deputy was able to locate the vehicle Tuesday morning, and after checking the vehicle identification number, it was discovered that the owners lived in Anaconda.

The car seemed out of place deep in the woods in the Swan Valley, and looked like it had been parked as if someone was trying to conceal it, Larson said.

Anaconda police officers were able to contact the owners and verify the car was stolen, but also learned that several guns had been stolen from the house while the owners were out of town. The prisoners had stolen a 12-gauge shotgun, two high-powered rifles with scopes, and a .44 magnum handgun, Larson said, and Willcutt had access to some of those weapons at the time of his arrest.

Based on the stolen vehicle, Forest Service personnel, deputies and Tribal police were put on alert that the two men might be in the area, and late Tuesday afternoon, Forest Service workers surprised the men bathing in Lost Creek. They took off in different directions, with Frank running with nothing but the pants he had on.

At a campsite near the creek, authorities discovered sleeping bags, pots, food and other camping materials. Among the food items recovered were packets of peanut butter that are issued to inmates at the state prison, prison officials later told Larson.

Local radio stations were notified Tuesday afternoon and advised listeners in the Swan Valley to lock all doors and report any suspicious activity. On Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, Lake County deputies and law enforcement personnel from other agencies spent hours going door to door throughout the Swan Valley, and on Hwy. 35, advising residents of the situation. They also set up roadblocks to check vehicles and notify drivers of the situation.

All told, more than a dozen agencies assisted the Sheriff's office, including Flathead and Missoula county SWAT and K-9 teams; the Kalispell police department and SWAT team; a state Dept. of Corrections SWAT team; the U.S. Border Patrol, Forest Service and Marshall Service; Tribal Law and Order; the Highway Patrol; FBI; Swan Search and Rescue; the county's Office of Emergency Management; Bigfork Ambulance; and Dept. of Homeland Security, which provided a Blackhawk helicopter to aid in the search.

"They did one outstanding job," Larson said of the agencies that came together to help with the search.

Deputies and detectives spent a couple hours Thursday itemizing the camping gear and tagging it as evidence. Earlier that morning, Frank and Willcutt were led out of the county jail and into separate vehicles, where they were transported back to the state prison.

Both men will face felony escape charges, as well as felony charges for possession of firearms, and could be charged in Lake County, too, Larson noted.

The Sheriff was all smiles at a press conference last Thursday, as he recapped the events that led up to the capture of the two men. While the fact that Frank chose the cabin next to the one owned by Willcutt's uncle was a strange twist, it wasn't the only one.

When Larson told Powell County Sheriff Scott Howard that the men were found bathing in Lost Creek, Howard told him that was also the name of the creek near the work release area the two men escaped from.

"We're going to rename it 'Found Creek,'" Larson said with a laugh.