Blane and Susan - Elderly Escape Artists Went on the Run for Murder

This story is the elderly version of Mickey and Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers. Or a geriatric version of Bonnie and Clyde. These old folks just aint ready for a Palm Springs retirement village yet.

Blane and Susan Barksdale have been on the run since they overpowered guards as they were being extradited to Arizona late last month.

They are accused of killing 72-year-old Frank Bligh and then setting his home on fire to cover it up. His body has yet to be found. The Barksdales were arrested in upstate New York in May following a nationwide manhunt.

Late August 2019, as the couple was being transported back to Arizona, Susan faked an illness to stop the van they were in. When the vehicle pulled over near Blanding, Utah, the couple overpowered the two guards as they opened the rear doors, says the Associated Press.

The guards were bound with shoelaces but neither were hurt. A third inmate in the van wanted no part of the escape.

The Barksdales drove the van with the three captives locked inside to Vernon, Arizona, where they got a red GMC truck. They then abandoned the van with their three prisoners inside.

The guards were able to free themselves two or three hours later by kicking out some windows.

The Barksdales were taken into custody south of Payson, Arizona, in Tonto Basin. The area is northeast of Phoenix in the Tonto National Forest, approximately 260 miles from where they escaped.

Payson, Arizona is around 257 miles southwest of Blanding, Utah, where the escape occurred, and around 90 miles west of Vernon, Arizona, where authorities think the couple got the truck.

Earlier this week, Blane Barksdale was added to the U.S. Marshals' 15 "most wanted" list, and authorities said described him as a career criminal who is believed to be connected to the Aryan Brotherhood and white supremacist gangs.

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