BRANDON, Miss. – The Latest on the capture of a Mississippi fugitive in Kansas (all times local):
Noon
Mississippi authorities say they will seek extradition of a fugitive who left a nearly 2,000-mile trail of violence that ended in a fiery crash Wednesday in central Kansas.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey told reporters that Kansas authorities have agreed to hand over 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton, who is suspected of strangling his girlfriend last week in a suburb of Mississippi's capital city. Deaton is then believed to have shot a jogger from the SUV he stole from the girlfriend, and officials say he may have also killed a woman at a rural Mississippi church.
Bailey says Deaton sent a series of texts, some incriminating, to friends and family before he went silent Saturday. He resurfaced Tuesday, with New Mexico authorities saying he carjacked and briefly abducted two hikers. Kansas authorities say he shot a store clerk in that state and stole another vehicle, before being captured following a chase.
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10:45 a.m.
Authorities have arrested a man suspected of shooting a Kansas convenience store clerk and kidnapping two hikers in New Mexico while on the run after his girlfriend was killed and a jogger was shot in Mississippi.
Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Tod Hileman said in a tweet that 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton was taken into custody Wednesday near the town of Wilson, about 80 miles from where the clerk was shot.
Kansas authorities began pursuing Deaton because he was driving a vehicle reported stolen in New Mexico. Kansas investigators say the suspect ditched the vehicle before shooting the clerk and stealing another vehicle. Hileman says Deaton was arrested after his vehicle crashed and caught fire.
Authorities were seeking Deaton in the death of 30-year-old Heather Robinson. Mississippi officials also consider him a suspect in the shooting death of a woman found dead at a rural church.
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