U.S.

Fugitive Survivalist Caught

February 16, 2000 / 4:21 AM EST / AP

The search for a Texas survivalist wanted in the killing of a farmer and the wounding of two officers in Nebraska ended late Tuesday when the fugitive surrendered at a farmhouse.

Charles Lannis Moses Jr., accused of shooting two Nebraska police officers on Saturday and gunning down a farmer on Monday, had outrun authorities in the hills just over the Nebraska-Wyoming state line.

Authorities said Moses was found at a farmhouse where he had surrendered his gun.

"It sounds like maybe he was cold and tired and ready to give up," said Sgt. Perry Jones of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

Moses, a 31-year-old construction worker, was taken to a hospital for injuries he suffered in a shootout with Nebraska officers on Saturday night.

A first-degree murder warrant was issued for Moses on Tuesday, a day after a western Nebraska farmer was shot to death. Authorities, already searching for Moses after the shootout Saturday, found Moses in Wyoming on Tuesday afternoon, but he managed to escape in the remote, hilly area.

The search had shifted to eastern Wyoming from western Nebraska. In the Paxton, Neb., area, military helicopters were called in Tuesday and schools closed as more than 100 state troopers searched for Moses. Paxton is about 150 miles southeast of Lusk.

Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns declared a state of emergency, which allowed the guard to use two unarmed Blackhawk helicopters in the search.

Farmer Robert Sedlacek, 48, was found shot to death near an abandoned farmhouse eight miles from Paxton. Police believe Moses had been hiding out on the farm and killed Sedlacek to steal his pickup truck.

Sedlacek was speaking with his father-in-law, Paul Fisher, on a cell phone and said he noticed unusual tire tracks on the property, Keith County Attorney Deborah Gilg said.

Fisher said his last words with Sedlacek were to warn his son-in-law about the fugitive. "I heard him say, `What are you doing here?' and the phone went dead," Fisher said.

The manhunt started late Saturday when a sheriff's deputy tried to arrest Moses on Texas charges of theft and evading arrest.

In a shootout with about two dozen officers who chased him in his truck, Moses allegedly wounded one in the abdomen and another in the hand. He escaped into the night on icy rural roads because his pickup had no tail lights, police said.

"He's a survivalist. He goes for camping equipment and weapons," said Gary Studebaker, a chief sheriff's deputy in Nocona, Texas. "Ninety-nine percent of the time he always runs. He's good at it."