Father, son in Centerville kidnapping fighting extradition to Utah


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CENTERVILLE — A father and son accused of kidnapping and assaulting a mother and her four teen daughters in Utah before fleeing to Wyoming will fight extradition back to Davis County where they face charges.

Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, 22, of Centerville, and his father, Flint Wayne Harrison, 51, of Wyoming, made brief appearances in court Monday afternoon in Sublette County, Wyoming. Neither waived extradition back to Utah, and a judge ordered them held on $750,000 until their next court hearing.

Also Monday, law enforcement officials announced they were looking into a possible connection between the Harrisons and the case of a missing Utah Transit Authority employee. But less than an hour after a statement was issued by law enforcers in Wyoming, UTA and Centerville police said there had been a misunderstanding and that no evidence had been found to link the two cases.

"We don't have anything to suggest that they're connected. However, we want to cover every base that we possibly can," UTA Police Chief Fred Ross said.

Kay Porter Ricks, 63, a maintenance worker for UTA, along with his company-issued vehicle, have been missing since Thursday. Monday afternoon, the Sublette County Sheriff's Office issued a statement for residents to be on the lookout for the missing UTA vehicle, stating it "may have been used by Flint Wayne Harrison and Dereck James Harrison to flee (Utah) following the kidnapping and assault incident that occurred on May 11 in Centerville."

Shortly after that release, UTA and Sublette County clarified that Utah authorities had only asked law enforcers in Wyoming to keep their eyes open, even though there was no evidence the two incidents were related.

Ricks was last seen driving a 2013 F-150 with an equipment rack mounted on the bed, with Utah license plate No. 206886 EX. The truck also has "UTA" on the door. Ross said Monday that police believe his truck was last seen at the Ballpark TRAX Station near 1300 South about 5 p.m. Thursday.

The investigation by Centerville and Wyoming authorities began when DJ and Flint Harrison allegedly invited a woman and her teenage daughters — ages 13, 15, 17 and 18 — over for a barbecue on May 10. But police believe it was just a setup to get the women to the house.

In the basement, the men had a shotgun, baseball bat, zip ties and duct tape already ripped into strips in preparation for the arrival of the women.

Once in the basement, the girls' hands were zip tied, while their mother had duct tape put over her mouth, a bag over her head, and the Harrisons hit her with a baseball bat, according to police.

The young girls, however, were able to break free of their restraints and ran out of the house in a panic and called 911.

"They tied us up in the basement, and they tried to beat us with a bat," the frantic girl told the 911 dispatcher.

On Monday, Davis County authorities released a recording of the 911 call made last week.

During the five-minute call, two of the girls talked to dispatchers. The first was so upset and emotional and talked so fast that the dispatcher could not understand her. When she passed the phone to one of her sisters, it again took a minute for the dispatcher to get the girl to calm down so he could understand her.

"You need to take a breath and calm down," the dispatcher tells the girl.

Eventually, the dispatcher is able to understand that there had been an attack.

"My mom's eye is bleeding," one girl said. "It's really bad."

The girl didn't know the address of the home and told the dispatcher they had fled to a neighbor's house. She is heard telling the dispatcher on the recording it was "DJ" who attacked them, though she can't remember his last name. The girl is also heard giving the dispatcher a description of the Harrisons' vehicle with a license plate number.

"His dad brought out the gun and he started putting zip ties on us … and he started tying everybody, and he beat my mom with a bat. He just started choking us, and one of my sisters got away," the upset young girl says while noting her mother was "bleeding a lot."

The incident sparked an intense manhunt for DJ and Flint Harrison that ended over the weekend in Pinedale, Wyoming. Flint Harrison was arrested without incident Saturday morning, and his son was captured without incident Saturday night.

The Harrisons were each charged in 2nd District Court with five counts of kidnapping and five counts of aggravated assault. Both were being held in the Sublette County Jail on Monday. Each had a court hearing Monday and announced they would not waive extradition, meaning they will be assigned attorneys in Wyoming.

As of Monday, questions about a possible motive for the attack and how the Harrisons made it from Utah to Wyoming remained unanswered. Police said they did not find a vehicle in the Half Moon Lake area where the Harrisons had set up a campsite, nor were there any reports of a stolen vehicle.

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Centerville police confirmed that after the Harrisons fled the house where the women were allegedly kidnapped, they abandoned their vehicle in Farmington and then got a ride to a Ramada Inn in Salt Lake City.

Investigators were told that DJ Harrison was able to obtain two rifles, high-capacity magazines and two knives while on the run. A search was conducted Monday by the Sublette County Sheriff's Office around the Half Moon Lake area to find the missing weapons. As of Monday evening, there were no reports of weapons being found.

Also arrested over the weekend was DJ Harrison's mother, MaryAnn Harrison. She was arrested on a parole violation for traveling from Utah to Wyoming without first getting permission from her parole officer.

Police say MaryAnn Harrison drove to Wyoming with $10,000 in cash, allegedly to help her son. This came after police confirmed she had sent her son a text message shortly after the alleged assault happened, telling him that she'd help him hide.

MaryAnn Harrison says she is a concerned mother who just wants to her son to be safe. Centerville police say her actions have raised a lot of red flags, and they're tired of her allegedly interfering, so they checked with her parole officer in Utah and arrested her a short time later.

MaryAnn Harrison, who was convicted on a felony robbery charge, was an inmate at the Utah State Prison from 2011 to 2014. She was also on felony probation with the Utah Department of Corrections from 2002 to 2004.

MaryAnn Harrison waived extradition Monday and will now be taken back to Utah. A Wyoming judge also ordered MaryAnn and DJ Harrison to have no contact with each other.

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Pat Reavy

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