Blane and Susan Barksdales’ run from the law came to end last night in Gila County, Arizona. A last-minute tip led to their capture. They were located 8 miles north of Roosevelt Lake near Punkin Center, a small town on Highway 188 in Tonto Basin.

Assistant Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Van Bayless, who was at the scene said, “The plan at the end of the night was to surround and call-out. And by a surround and call-out, we were backed way off that property. With a manufactured home and the trailers, they don't provide much for protection if there was going to be gunfire coming from the house out. So, we have a large standoff distance. We were able to bring in Range One pretty closely and put a bright spotlight on the house. We had sirens going. The house was completely surrounded, 360 degrees by vehicles and about 50 individual law enforcement officers from multiple agencies.”

Officers surrounded the house and started calling to the occupants to come out. The homeowner came out first and said the Barksdales were inside the house. Susan, upset and sobbing, came out five minutes later. She verified Blane was still in the house. Megaphone commands continued.

U.S. Marshal for the District of Arizona David Gonzales told reporters, “He waited about five or 10 minutes and then Blane did leave the house. He initially was responding to commands to keep his hands up and to get down, but after a couple of minutes he became very verbally abusive to the officers, flipping the bird, not responding to other commands, and the deputy marshal says he had to use the Taser and what we call a bean bag round in the leg to take him down and affect his arrest. And that ended the saga that we’ve been dealing with the last 16 days.”

The Barksdales were booked into the Pinal County Jail in Florence, Arizona They are scheduled for an initial appearance at the Sandra Day O’Connor Courthouse in Tucson at 3 p.m. Thursday. Gonzales said, “The federal government became involved in this homicide case with state by obtaining a unlawful flight to avoid prosecution charge and that was our legal in for the U.S. marshals to follow up on this case. What’s going to happen in court today is UFAP, the unlawful flight to avoid prosecution charge, will be dismissed and the Barksdales will be immediately turned over to the Tucson Police Department where they will then be booked into Pima county Jail for the homicide they’re investigating.”

The Barksdales are charged with the murder of 72-year-old Vietnam veteran Frank Bligh. Bligh’s home was set on fire and his body hasn’t been found. Around 100 guns were stolen from his home.

In Utah, the Barksdales overpowered security guards during transport from New York to Arizona. They acquired a red GMC Sierra pickup from an acquaintance nearby. Gonzales said they still don’t know where the red pickup is.