Fugitive from justice apparently drowns fleeing deputies up the North Fork of Flathead

A North Carolina fugitive from justice apparently drowned last week trying to swim away from law enforcement in the North Fork of the Flathead.

Steven Jeffrey O’Shields was reported to be in the Kalispell/Evergreen areas on June 20. O’Shields had extraditable felony warrants for his arrest regarding various crimes, including burglary, theft of services, obstruction of law enforcement, and sexual battery against a child, all out of North Carolina, according to a release by the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. 

On June 21, at approximately 7 p.m., the office received a report that O’Shields was at the Big Creek Campground on foot and carrying a sleeping bag. Deputies responded to the area and found O’Shields walking south on the North Fork Road, near mile marker 11. Upon contact, he immediately fled into the woods, eastbound toward the Flathead River. After a short foot pursuit, deputies saw O’Shields wading into the Flathead River, moving downriver to the south. O’Shields was beyond the reach of the deputies on the scene. Deputies observed O’Shields struggling to stay above water before he went around a bend and out of sight just south of the Glacier Rim. 

Deputies continued searching for O’Shields in the direction of his last known location. At approximately 9 p.m., with the assistance of Two Bear Air Rescue, a body, later identified as O’Shields, was observed submerged in the water north of the Blankenship Bridge. Boat crews from North Valley Search and Rescue were able to recover the body, and it was subsequently turned over to the Flathead County Coroner’s Office.  

On June 24, O’Shields body was transported to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula for autopsy and identification. The Montana Department of Criminal Investigation is currently investigating. 

This is not the first time O’Shields tried to evade law enforcement. 

According to a story in the Dalton Daily Citizen of Georgia, O’Shields was nabbed after trying to evade police in Georgia back in March 2016 . He was later caught in North Carolina. O’Shields was originally convicted in March 2012 of sexual battery charge and was sentenced to five years. He was released from Dooly State Prison in Georgia in June 2014, the story noted.