Tucson Murder Suspect Fugitive Faked A Medical Emergency

ARIZONA – The story of Tucson murder suspect escapees 59-year-old Susan Barksdale and 56-year-old Blane Barksdale continues to unfold, with the U.S. Marshals office recently releasing updated photos of the suspects in addition to new facts on how the couple escaped. The Barksdales have been on the run since the evening of Monday, Aug. 26, when they overpowered prison transport guards near Blanding, Utah while being transported from Henrietta, New York to Pima County, where they allegedly murdered 72-year-old Frank Bligh in Tucson.

Following recent announcements of a $20,000 bounty on the couple’s heads, and Pima County’s suspension of the prison transport company’s contract, the U.S. Marshals Service has now reported that Susan Barksdale faked an emergency intestinal condition as the couple were being transported. “It was compelling enough that (the guards) felt the need to pull over,” said David Gonzales, U.S. Marshal for Arizona. Once the transport vehicle’s rear compartment was opened, the Barksdales charged at their drivers, a female guard and a male guard who had a handgun in a locked box but didn’t take it with them to open the prisoners’ compartment.

The Barksdales then bound the two guards with shoelaces and put them into the transport van’s prisoner compartment with another inmate. After taking a key, the couple removed a waist restraint, azfamily.com reports. The couple also allegedly took the guards’ money, about $30, People.com reports. After driving the prison transport vehicle to Vernon, Arizona, the couple met a friend who lent them his red GMC truck. The friend is still being questioned but hasn’t been charged, the Associated Press reports.

From Vernon, Arizona, one Barksdale drove the red GMC while the other drove the prison van, about 40 miles. The prison vehicle with the two guards and third prisoner locked in the back was then abandoned close to St. John’s, Arizona, and the couple took off together in the GMC truck. It took the prison guards tied up and locked in the prison van 2 to 3 hours to break out, which they did eventually by kicking out windows. The third prisoner, now in a southern Arizona jail, cooperated with police. “This other prisoner, he wanted no part of this deal,” Gonzales said. “He was very forthcoming.”

Blane Barksdale is 6’5”, 265 lbs with blue eyes and a shaved head, while Susan Barksdale is 5'7", 110 lbs, with blue eyes and blonde and gray hair, azcentral.com reports. Blane's arms are mostly covered with swastika and other tattoos. He spent time in prison on drug and theft charges from 1984 to 1993, and was imprisoned on federal marijuana possession charges in 2003 in Taylor County, Kentucky, serving a sentence until 2012. He married Susan Barksdale in 2013. Both Barksdales now face first-degree murder and arson charges, among others.

Seventy-two-year-old Frank Bligh’s body was never found, but his mobile home was torched April 16, an arson for which the Barksdale’s nephew is being held in Maricopa County. Bligh’s abandoned vehicle was found the following day and contained evidence that Bligh was likely dead, the Associated Press reported.

People.com reported that Bligh was a Vietnam Air Force Reserve veteran, and that Susan Barksdale and Bligh were old acquaintances. Bligh’s brother, William Bligh, told ABC News, “ I knew Sue very good. … In fact, my wife and I, one of the times we visited my brother in Tucson, we had dinner with her, we went places with her; she was a very pleasant, nice person. Everybody got along good … and somewhere along the line she met Blane.”

He continued, “I would love to have these two people caught, and I would love to have the court system take over and do the justice that they deserve.”

Agencies including the Tucson police, FBI and others are following up on tips and interviewing people across the country, in their pursuit of the Barksdales. It is believed the couple are no longer wearing prison uniforms, and that they are in Arizona or New Mexico or elsewhere in the Southwest. Anyone with information on the case or the Barksdales’ whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the U.S. Marshals Service and not to approach the couple directly, as they are considered armed and dangerous.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.