the rancher met with the sheriff. we showed him the pictures of ake and hatch, he instantly identified them as the two people that had taken him hostage the night before. the rancher warned the lawmen that ake and hatch had access to an arsenal. between the firearms and the ammunition that he had and the firearms and the ammunition that they brought, they were very, very well armed. i want to say close to 30 different firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition. early the next morning, nearly a dozen lawmen stormed the ranch house. and right as we re driving up to the house, we see two men, ake and hatch, jump from a window in the house and run. and they run in two different directions. they were both armed. a deputy fired a warning shot over ake s head. ake tripped over an irrigation ditch in this meadow
harrowing stories of the eyewitnesses and survivors brooks and leslie douglass. and then ake and hatch s thanksgiving confessions. the state had ballistic evidence linking them to the murders and the testimony of ginger keep, the traveling companion while they were on the run. keefe, who was never charged with any crime, testified that ake and hatch told her about killing the douglasses and shooting brooks and leslie. we had two surviving witnesses. we were able to identify who the people were. we were able to put the bullet in. we somewhat kept it simple. simple? to the judge hearing the case maybe, but certainly not for the surviving witnesses. brooks had already testified once in the preliminary hearing. but both he and his sister would have to relive it all for hatch s trial. 13-year-old leslie douglass appeared in court for the first time since the shooting that left her and her brother critically wounded and her parents dead. how did those two kids do on the stand?
and remember. so it was like, i don t know what got in my head, i just have to remove all emotional attachment. the jury needed just two hours to make up its mind. ake was convicted. he was sentenced to 1,000 years for shooting the douglass children, and as for the murder of brooks and leslie s parents we the jury empaneled and squorn by to try the issues in the above entitled cause do upon our oaths having heretofore found the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree fix punishment at death. so end of the road for ake and hatch or so lawmen and prosecutors assumed. sheriff stedman escorted ake to mccallister penitentiary and death row. when i took glen burton ake to mccallister, oklahoma, to be processed in by the department of corrections, when we got out
downtown baggs, wyoming. ake got drunk, started slapping ginger around. she d had enough, and at her first opportunity spilled her guts to the barkeep. the bar owner alerted the police. by then ake and hatch had escaped in colorado. jeff coreville was a detective sergeant in colorado back then. our deputies found out that the car was associated with ake and hatch and that they were wanted on a number of different murders in oklahoma and texas. they tried to pursue the car but what we had then was just kind of old pickup trucks for pa terrell vehicles. and of course these guys got away real quick. ake and hatch floored the 280z, lost the lawmen. aware of how dangerous the two were, the searchers scoured the county. our guys gave chase, and the car just got away, disappeared 25 miles north of town. they d given the cops the slip. low on money and freezing in the colorado winter, ake and hatch were as desperate as cornered animals.
bill james, at the courthouse. it was the call he was waiting for. i jumped over the railing, ran to the office to prepare the extradition papers. i put a call in to the governor, had him sign him. we had it done in a few hours. why the hurry, why the rush? we wanted them. remember, the fugitives had committed a double murder in texas, too. but the oklahomans were determined they wanted first crack at ake and hatch. had to get there before some lawmen from texas beats them to it. the news of the capture was a huge relief to brooks and leslie douglass. and now the race to bring back ake and hatch. sheriff lynn stedman flew by charter to colorado. it was about 2:30 to 3:00 in the morning that we landed at will rogers world airport here in oklahoma city. yeah. with them. and then took them by car. then the sort of thing that almost never happens on their