Murder suspect who escaped in Colorado caught in cemetery

[June 21, 2014]  By Keith Coffman
 
 DENVER (Reuters) - Authorities in Colorado caught a fugitive suspect in a cemetery on Friday hours after he escaped from a private prisoner transport company's van while being extradited from Nevada to face murder charges in Illinois, officials said.

Turhan Robinson, who has been charged with first-degree murder in a fatal shooting last month, fled overnight from a prisoner transport van parked at a truck stop in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, authorities said.

The City of Wheat Ridge Police Department said Robinson, 37, was recognized by a woman walking her dog and was caught by sheriff's deputies on Friday afternoon at the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver's Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

"The suspect still had broken handcuffs and shackles when he was arrested," police said in a statement. "Police will be in the area attempting to re-create the suspect's path to determine if any further crimes have been committed."

A dragnet was set up after his escape, tracking dogs were deployed and calls were placed to local residents warning them to keep doors and windows locked as Robinson was considered "extremely dangerous," police said.

Robinson and another man, Terrence Lee, have been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting dead an Illinois man after robbing him of marijuana last month, according to a charging document filed by prosecutors in Madison County, Illinois.

As Robinson and Lee fled across the border into Missouri after the shooting, the two suspects allegedly fired at pursuing officers, leading to additional charges of attempted murder.

Lee was apprehended in St. Louis about a week after the killing, and the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis captured Robinson in Las Vegas, where he has family and friends, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Will Dunham)

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