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Father And Son Duo Both Caught After Tying Up Woman And 4 Daughters

By Jessica Dafoe
Published on: 03:03 PST, May 15, 2016

A father and son duo in Pinedale, Wyoming, have been caught after accused of enticing a woman and her four teenage daughters to a house and tying them up.

On Saturday night, officers set off on a manhunt and were able to track down and arrest Dereck James “DJ” Harrison only a few hours after his father, Flint Wayne Harrison, surrendered in Utah.

The 22-year-old who was apprehended and his 51-year-old father face a number of charges, according to the Sublette County Sheriff, as the Associated Press shares.

“The various charges the men face include aggravated kidnapping and possession of a controlled substance. Sublette County Sheriff’s Office said that shortly after 10 p.m. MDT, the younger Harrison was arrested without incident in the Half Moon Lake area of western Wyoming and booked into the county jail.”

Officials say that the senior culprit in the case had turned himself in and was assisting the police in tracking down his son. The thick-forested back country surrounding the lake in the area had been where officials focused their daylong search for Harrison. His father helped reveal his suspected whereabouts and that he was armed with rifles and knives. The young man had also made threats to law enforcement officers.

While searching the wooded area, officers evacuated a campground to ensure the safety of anyone in the area and urged residents in the area to stay indoors. The arrest was finally made late at night just after the department had announced that the search was suspended until morning.

The department shared in a statement the details of the arrest, as the new outlet relays.

“Law enforcement officials who were manning the roadblock and patrolling the roadway, observed a male matching the description of Dereck, walking south towards the deputies.”

Sheriff Stephen Haskell communicated his relief at finally apprehending the suspect.

“This is an incredible end to a very stressful day.”

The mother and her daughters are reported to be safe and recovering after the attack Tuesday in Centerville, Utah. The men reportedly tied the women up with zip ties. Harrison senior then hit the mother with a baseball bat as the teens tried to break the zip ties and escape.

In reports of the incident, it states that “[i]n the struggle that followed, one girl slapped away a shotgun pointed at her throat and another grabbed the bat and hit the son.”

The victims managed to get free and escape. The men state that they had been using methamphetamine heavily over a number of days and believed, due to being heavily under the influence, that the woman had reported them to the authorities, yet were mistaken.

Harrison junior was a close friend to the woman’s family. As the publication shares, he would often visit their home and have dinner with the family. Additionally, he would pick the teens up from school. The teen girls, ages 13 and 18, had known DJ Harrison for several years prior to the attack.

The Harrison’s fled following the attack and were picked up by an unknown who took the men to Salt Lake City where they spent the night in a hotel on Tuesday. Harrison elder is reportedly a registered sex offender. The man surrendered to the police in Pinedale for unknown reasons. Investigators believe that the duo had been in the Wyoming area since Thursday.

USA Today shares what the two men face now that they have both been apprehended.

“Both men will likely be extradited to Utah on kidnapping and assault charges. The sheriff’s office could not say at this time whether the father and son will face additional charges in Wyoming.”

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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