Utah medical examiners have positively identified the camouflage-draped body found by deer hunters in a remote part of San Juan County Sunday as that of Alan Lamont Pilon, one of two Colorado men sought in the May 1998 slaying of a police officer.
The identification came late Tuesday after medical examiners called in a dentist to compare Pilon's dental records to the skeletal remains. The identification leaves police with only one man -- Jason McVean -- to locate.Pilon, 30, McVean, 26, and Robert Mason, 26, fled to the desert of eastern Utah May 29, 1998, after allegedly killing Cortez, Colo., officer Dale Claxton, and wounding two Colorado sheriff's deputies and a national parks worker. Their rampage triggered a massive manhunt, which intensified after Mason shot and wounded a San Juan County deputy near Bluff on June 4, 1998. At one point as many as 500 police offers were involved in the search.
Examiners are "still working" on determining a cause of Pilon's death, medical examiner Dr. Todd Grey said. Pilon's skull was broken in two, which suggests he suffered a blunt trauma wound to his head. Several pieces of the skull were missing, which suggest that the remains had been picked over, most likely by animals, San Juan County Sheriff Mike Lacy said.
"We may not be able to determine a cause of death, " Lacy said, "unless we find a bullet out there someplace."
A 9 mm shell casing was found near the body, but investigators don't know how much the remains have been disturbed and if that is the original location of the casing. If Pilon committed suicide, a bullet might be lodged in some of the surrounding ground or rock and could carry skin or skull fragments that would illuminate the cause of death, Lacy said.
So far, no bullet has been found, although San Juan deputies will conduct additional searches of the area.
As for time of death, Grey said doctors will only be able to estimate a "range" of time in which the man died. Police believe Pilon probably died within a few days of the May 29 shootings, Lacy said.
"His boots were brand new, which sort of confirms my theory he was dead within a few days," Lacy said.
Pilon's watch was still ticking and a flashlight found in the pocket of his jacket still worked.
Pilon's skeleton, which was found Sunday evening tucked between some trees on Tin Cup Mesa above Squaw and Cross Canyons, was fairly complete, Lacy said.
Lacy was convinced the remains were those of Pilon even before the autopsy report. A Kevlar bulletproof vest, military style helmet, .308-caliber rifle, a 9 mm handgun and the seven pipe bombs found with the body were an exact match to items found with his cohort, Mason, whose body was recovered last year near Bluff. Mason died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound which he suffered not long after he shot and wounded the San Juan deputy.
In addition, a pair of eyeglasses was found with the body. Pilon was the only one of the three fugitives who wore glasses. Several of the pipe bombs were found with the remains, Lacy said. The rest were in a backpack. A tent was also found, but it had not been opened, he said.
A search of the Tin Cup Mesa area has produced no evidence that McVean was or is in the area, Lacy said.
"He's either dead or long gone from here," Lacy said.
Pilon, of Dove Creek, Mason and McVean, both of Durango, were known survivalists who touted anti-government sentiments.