TOOELE COUNTY, Utah, April 30, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — Two men who bolted from a van during an Interstate 80 traffic stop Saturday morning and were taken into custody after a multi-hour manhunt have been identified.
The suspects, who include the driver of the van, who stayed with the vehicle, have been identified as Joseph Theodore Dodd, 22, Adrian Andrew Ladson, age 22, and Darrion Martel Williams, whose age was not listed, the Utah Highway Patrol said in a news release.
Law officers spent most of Saturday on high alert after the 10:30 a.m. stop which took place on eastbound I-80 between the Stansbury and Magna/West Valley exits.
According to the UHP, three men were traveling in a gray Nissan Rogue when a Utah Highway Patrol trooper stopped the vehicle because of a traffic violation.
The driver stayed with the vehicle, but the two passengers fled on foot.
One of the suspects was taken into custody late Saturday afternoon, said UHP Lt. Beau Mason. The suspect was found cowering in a roadside thicket.
The second suspect was captured hours later while attempting to call a cab from a Tooele County truck stop. Police initially believed he had carjacked a passing motorist, but later determined he had been given a ride by an unwitting good Samaritan.
The Nissan the suspects were in was discovered to be transporting a medium-sized load of marijuana, which the UHP has not weighed.
“It was a substantial amount, not a huge load by our standards,” Mason said. “It was not really worth all the work that went into it.
Multiple agencies participated in Saturday’s search, including Utah Highway Patrol troopers from multiple counties, the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office and Tooele Police Department, the Grantsville Police Department, the Unified Police Department and Forest Department officials, who used a helicopter.
The Nevada Highway Patrol and Wendover Police Department were also notified to be on the lookout.
Calls from three people in the area helped searchers find the runner who was found near the side of the highway.
“We were still close in the area, set up containment, and we brought our helicopter back out, and with the K9 and the helicopter, we were able to take (the suspect) into custody,” Mason said.
The helicopter spotted the suspect by using forward-looking infrared.
“This guy hunkered down,” Mason said. “He was down in the brush so that even the K9 wasn’t indicating. There was some wind going on.
“We had him surrounded, none of us could see him, and even the officers had to be right on top of him before they found him. He’s given us his name, we’ve identified him as the suspect we were looking for,” Mason said, adding that further interrogation would take place at headquarters.
The suspect was taken into custody barefoot and wearing shorts.
“I think he was a little tired and ready to give up,” Mason said. The suspect suffered no dog bites or serious injuries, he added, attributing the good outcome to the efforts of multiple agencies working together.
All three men were questioned by the State Bureau of Investigation before being booked into jail.
