Police: Both Utah kidnapping suspects in custody in Wyoming


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PINEDALE, Wyo. — The intense manhunt for a Utah man wanted in a Davis County kidnapping culminated late Saturday night with the arrest of Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, 22, who was taken into custody without incident.

The man is accused of being part of a father-son duo who kidnapped and assaulted a woman and her four daughters in a Centerville home last week. Harrison's father, Flint Wayne Harrison, 51, turned himself in to Wyoming police officials early Saturday morning and "immediately started working with local investigators to locate his son Dereck," Sublette County Sheriff's Sgt. Katherine Peterson said.

Details of the arrest were not immediately available, but it was confirmed by police.

Police believed Dereck Harrison was in the forest close to the Half Moon Lake area of Sublette County, Peterson said, and a search of the area continued throughout the day. Shortly before dusk, ground teams located a makeshift campsite with gear that had been reported as being in the man's possession. The team did another sweep of the Half Moon Lake lodge and surrounding area before suspending the search late Saturday.

Officers from the Sublette County Sheriff's Office, Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office, Green River Police Department and the Rock Springs Police Department were involved in the search and evacuated nearby homes and campgrounds, Peterson said.

Authorities believed Dereck Harrison was armed with two knives and was possibly carrying a .300 win mag rifle and a .22 Remington with high capacity magazines.

Harrison had made several direct threats to law enforcement and citizens were warned to stay away from the area and consider sheltering in place.

Police have been looking for the men who they say invited a Clinton woman and her four daughters into a home in Centerville where they beat them and held them at gunpoint, Tuesday.

Flint and Dereck Harrison asked the woman and her daughters — 13, 15, 17 and 18 years old — to come to a home at 190 N. 700 East for a barbecue, according to Centerville Police Lt. Von Steenblik.

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The men used the barbecue as "a ruse to get them to the house," Steenblik said.

When the women got to the house, the men invited them down to the basement.

"They've got the baseball bat and they've got a shotgun. They've got zip ties and Duct Tape that's all set up and ready to go — Duct Tape torn to strips, and zip ties that are zipped together — and they start zip tying hands and feet," he said.

Dereck Harrison aimed a shotgun at the woman and her daughters and told them to get on the ground. The women "did not take him seriously at first and went back upstairs," according to an arrest affidavit.

The girls were forced back downstairs, told to get on their knees, and then their mother's mouth was taped and a bag put over her head.

"(The men) sit mom down, and there's some conversation about, 'We're going to get to the bottom of what you did,' and then they start to assault her. That's when the girls kind of freak out because their mom is being assaulted and they start to break loose. Then the two suspects are trying to contain the girls and the mom, and it goes to chaos," Steenblik said.

The girls then escaped the residence and one of them called police while she was fleeing. The men drove away before police could get to the home, according to Steenblik.

Police believe the men may have been in the back country of Sublette County as early as Thursday, Peterson said.

"Though no threats have been made to anyone outside of law enforcement, citizens are asked to stay out of the area until the suspect is apprehended," Peterson said in a press release.

Flint and Dereck Harrison were each charged with five counts of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, among other charges.

Anyone who has information about the location of Dereck Harrison is asked to call law enforcement at 307-276-5448.

Contributing: Karilyn Frazier, Ben Lockhart, Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Alex Cabrero

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