Forbidding mountainscape gives rise to characters, acts as a magnet for outlaws
In this undated photo provided by the Iron County Sheriff's Office in January, a man is seen walking past a cabin in the remote southern Utah wilderness near Zion National Park. Authorities believe the man in the photo, captured by a motion-triggered surveillance camera sometime in December, is a suspect responsible for more than two dozen cabin burglaries over the past five years
SALMON, Idaho — One is a loner who has eluded capture on Utah's rugged Cedar Mountain for five years. Another is hiding out in the mountain forests of western Montana, wanted for attempted murder.
They are extreme versions of the self-reliant, independent-thinking frontiersmen who have long roamed the American West.From wanted criminals to the more eccentric "Phantom Pooper" or "Dugout Dick," a wide range of outlaws and drifters live off the land in the rugged Rocky Mountains, folk heroes to the militia movement and a source of chagrin for law enforcement.
Among the more storied is Troy James Knapp, 44, a loner wanted for burglaries of resort cabins near Zion National Park in Utah. In his five years in the wild, he has lived off land so rugged the average visitor stocks his four-wheel drive with emergency supplies.
The snowshoe-clad survivalist has out-maneuvered authorities in manhunts, one as recently as last month when a reported sighting of a rifle-toting figure sent police in camouflage and bullet-proof vests pouring into the woods on foot and by air.
Knapp is one of a number of fugitives thought to be holed up in the vast back country of the Rocky Mountains, a region where self-sufficiency is almost a religion and separatist and militia movements have found fertile ground.
The forbidding mountainscape has given rise to characters such as 19th-century trapper and explorer Kit Carson, and has acted as a magnet for modern-day mountain men and outlaws such as Claude Dallas.
Dallas was convicted in 1982 of manslaughter in the slayings of two Idaho game wardens investigating him for poaching while living off the canyon lands of southwestern Idaho.
After the killings, Dallas fled into the wilderness and eluded police for months. During his time on the run, he gained cult status among anti-government militiamen and was portrayed in a popular ballad as a renegade hero.
Folk hero or criminal?Aided by survival skills a U.S. marshal has likened to those of American frontiersman Davy Crockett, Knapp and a handful of other back country drifters are folkloric figures to fiercely anti-authority loners and groups of the American West.
In Cedar Mountain, the specter of an armed loner who may harbor extremist views has stoked fear among seasonal residents and vacation homeowners from Las Vegas.
"This guy is not a folk hero, he's a dangerous criminal," said Jud Hendrickson, whose family getaway property straddles the area where Knapp is known to roam. "People are going to get hurt before this is over."
This undated photo provided by the Iron County Sheriff's Office shows a remote camp littered with supplies and trash in the southern Utah wildness near Zion National Park. Authorities believe the camp was left behind by a suspect in more than two dozen burglaries of mountain cabins over an area of roughly 1,000 square miles for the past five years.
Those weapons have reappeared in what Iron County, Utah, Detective Sergeant Jody Edwards calls "doomsday stashes" in camps Knapp erects deep in the woods in mild weather.
Knapp runs trap lines, shoots squirrels and has trekked across hundreds of miles of harsh terrain. He is uninterested in valuables many thieves would prize, said Michael Wingert, supervisory deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in Utah.
"If a cabin owner left a gold brooch on the table, he probably wouldn't touch it," Wingert said. "Outside of reading about Davy Crockett, I can't tell you the last time I've encountered a case like this."
Then there's the case of a former militia leader David Burgert, 48, who is wanted in Montana.
Burgert is sought on attempted murder charges involving a shootout with Missoula County deputies in June. Authorities say he fired a handgun at officers before escaping into the tangled back country of western Montana.
Missoula County Undersheriff Mike Dominick said Burgert, sentenced in 2004 to seven years in federal prison on weapons charges, is a survivalist able to fend for himself in the wilds.
"He's in desperate circumstances and we believe him to be a particular problem for local law enforcement. His animosity is directed at us," Dominick said.
Anti-social but not a real dangerOne challenge in the wide-open spaces of the western United States is telling the difference between harmless recluses and dangerous sociopaths. While the behavior of eccentrics in the western hinterlands may be objectionable, it isn't usually criminal, authorities said.
Police in Idaho have grappled with the socially unacceptable behavior of individuals like the "Phantom Pooper," who defecated on properties in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.
Then there's "Dugout Dick," a squatter on public lands who irrigated his asparagus crop with urine, and rented out caves he carved into the rocky outcroppings above the Salmon River.
"There are plenty of people with anti-social behavior out there who never really bother anybody," said Tony Latham, a retired Idaho Fish and Game investigator.
Law enforcement officials are more worried about extremists opposed to the central government. The FBI warned in February that they pose a growing threat to local law enforcement. The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report on March 8 showing a sharp rise in anti-government groups between 2010 and 2011.
Police also worry about what they call the "time bomb," the sometime offender whose potential for violence escalates over time. That's how Edwards, the Utah detective, views Knapp, who recently pledged to put a neighboring sheriff "in the ground" in a note left behind at a burgled cabin.
"We have a dangerous situation on our hands," Edwards said.
No comments:
Post a Comment