On May 29, 1998, forty-five-year-old Cortez, Colorado, Police Officer Dale Claxton pulled over a stolen water truck on the outskirts of the town of 8,400 people near the Four Corners border with Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Before he could unbuckle his seat belt, the lawman was under attack.

In military-like precision, three masked men in full gear and fatigues jumped out the truck and ambushed the officer with barrages of bullets from automatic weapons. Afterwards, the gunmen abandoned the vehicle and stole another truck.

Although the gunmen’s mode of transportation was different, their method of operation was the same: shoot any lawman in sight. In total, nine law enforcement vehicles were riddled with over three-hundred high-caliber assault rounds. Three officers, Deputy Jason Bishop, Officer Steve Keller, and Detective Todd Martin, were wounded but survived.

An hour later, the stolen pick-up was found in a ravine forty miles northwest of Cortez, just across the Colorado-Utah border.

The ambush on authority sparked the largest manhunt in southwestern United States history.

Patrolman Dale Claxton

The attackers were identified as Robert Mason and Jason McVean, both twenty-six-years-old, and thirty-year-old Alan Pilon. Pilon lived in Dove Creek, thirty-five miles northwest of Cortez; his two cohorts were from Durango, forty-five miles southeast of the shooting site.

All three men had previously had minor brushes with the law but were, to most who knew them, hard-working citizens. Mason was a bricklayer, McVean worked for his father as a welder, and Pilon worked in construction.  The trio, however, were also known for their fervid hatred of the government, in particular law enforcement.

Although the Four Corners area is home to some of the most radical militias, Mason, McVean, and Pilon, had been kicked out of one militia and denied membership in several others for expressing sentiments too violent.  Pilon was also in a contentious battle with the IRS over back taxes.

All three men were also survivalists who had stored supplies throughout the Four Corners terrain.

                                            Robert      Jason         Alan

                                            Mason    McVean      Pilon

On June 4, one week after the  that killed Officer Claxton in Cortez, Colorado, the gunmen struck again, wounding another police officer seventy-five miles away in Bluff, Utah. Shortly thereafter, their truck was found abandoned in Utah’s Cross Canyon, one-hundred-forty-five miles to the north.

Utah Shooting

The following day, police found Robert Mason dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the outskirts of Bluff.

Mason Is Found Dead . . .

A year-and-a-half later, on October 31, 1999, an anonymous tip led police to the remains of Alan Pilon in the desert in San Juan County, the southeastern most county in Utah. He, too, had taken his life with a gunshot.

. . . And Then Pilon

The manhunt for Jason McVean continued for another six-and-a-half years; all the while police were chasing a ghost.

On June 5, 2007, just over eight years after the ambush and only two miles from where Pilon had been found, a cowboy riding through a desolate area in Cross Canyon came across a body surrounded by a bulletproof vest, a backpack, survival gear, an AK-47 assault rifle, five hundred rounds of ammunition, and a pipe bomb. Also found were the business cards of Mason and Pilon.

Dental records confirmed the body was that of Jason McVean. A watch found among his items had stopped on May 30, leading authorities to believe he most likely took his life that date, one day after the shooting spree.

. . . And Finally McVean

Prior to their rampage, the three gunmen had all had only minor brushes with the law. All had been arrested for driving without insurance, having expired license tags, and for driving with suspended licenses. Plion had also been jailed for drunk driving, and McVean had also been arrested for underage consumption of alcohol and criminal trespass.

The motive for the men’s shooting rampage is believed to be that they simply hated government and authority figures.

The Three Cowards

Patrolman Dale Claxton’s Badge # 11 was permanently retired by the Cortez, Colorado, Police Department.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12462801/dale-dewain-claxton

https://www.odmp.org/officer/15098-patrolman-dale-dewain-claxton

Officer Claxton Is Honored And Remembered

A Sign Marks Where Patrolman Claxton Was Murdered

Just Outside of Cortez, Colorado

Dale Claxton’s son Corbin became an officer with the Cortez, Colorado Police Department. He is now with the Surprise, Arizona, Police Department.

Officer Corbin Claxton

Mystery writer Tony Hillerman’s 1999 novel Hunting Badger, in which Navajo Tribal Police Detectives track a Ute Indian who shoots two security guards to death in an Indian casino, was inspired by the murder of Patrolman Dale Claxton and the manhunt for his killers.

 

The Ambush Became The Impetus For A Novel

SOURCES:

• Denver Post
• Deseret News Utah
• Durango Herald
• Los Angeles Times
• Officer Down Memorial Page
• Unsolved Mysteries