U.S.

Inmates Nabbed, Conveniently

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 7, 2002 / 7:24 AM EST / CBS

Two escaped Texas inmates surrendered early Thursday after holding a 70-year-old man hostage at gunpoint for more than six hours at an Oklahoma gas station, authorities said. The hostage-takers, Curtis Gambill and Joshua Bagwell, gave up at 4:30 a.m., FBI Special Agent Richard Marquise said.

Gambill, 23, of Terral, and Bagwell, 24, of Waurika, were convicted in the 1996 slaying of Heather Rose Rich, a 16-year-old cheerleader from Waurika. Each was sentenced to life in prison and had recently been returned to the Montague prison for further proceedings.

The surrender was the result of "a very skillful agent developing a rapport" with the fugitives, Marquise said. He said the only request by the fugitives was to talk to relatives by telephone.

The hostage, store owner George West, 70, emerged unharmed.

Authorities arrested two other escaped inmates, Chrystal Gale Soto and Charles Jordan, outside the store at 9:50 p.m. while Jordan was using a pay phone, said Kym Koch, a spokeswoman with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Soto and Jordan are both murder suspects.

FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said a Carter County sheriff's deputy and an FBI agent went to the gas station after authorities received a tip that the fugitives might be there.

The FBI agent recognized Jordan and arrested him. Soto came out of the store and gave up, but Gambill and Bagwell refused to leave.

The standoff lasted as long as it did because Gambill and Bagwell were taking the opportunity to eat more food than they had in more than a week, Marquise said.

"I think they were enjoying their last moments of freedom before going to prison for the rest of their lives," he said.

All four fugitives were taken to the Carter County Jail in Ardmore after their arrests. It was not immediately known when they would appear in court.

The four had fled the Montague County Jail in northern Texas on Jan. 28. They used a makeshift knife to overpower a guard and escape in her sport utility vehicle.

Their escape set off a massive manhunt across the southern Plains, with authorities suspecting that Oklahoma might be their destination because Gambill and Bagwell were raised in the state and know the area. In recent days, they had been linked to two burglaries and theft of a flatbed truck in southern Oklahoma. A .22-caliber rifle was taken in one of the burglaries.

The stolen truck was found in Lake Murray State Park on Saturday, about a mile from the hostage standoff took place. The fugitives apparently had been hiding in the park for the last several days, FBI agent Sam Macaluso said.

Marquise said the escapees told authorities they had walked about 40 miles since they broke out of jail.

Gambill, Bagwell and the victim's former boyfriend said they feared Rich would accuse them of rape after a night of drinking and sex. They took Rich, who had passed out, to a remote creek bridge in Montague County and shot her repeatedly in the head and back. Her body as found a week later.

Jordan, 30, and Soto, 22, of Bowie, Texas, were jailed on charges stemming from the deaths of an elderly couple.