A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
Myron Lance and Walter Kelbach, two of the state’s most notorious and deadliest inmates, spent many years at the Utah State Prison following their five-day crime spree that left six people dead in December 1966.
For one weekend in 1968, though, Utah was gripped with concern as the pair and seven other maximum security prisoners escaped from the Utah State Prison.
Thankfully, they were all quickly captured.
Kelbach, Lance and Delbert Garrett were captured on Nov. 16, 1968, just hours after making a getaway from the new maximum security facility in Draper. The group reportedly escaped through ventilator tunnels and jumped the fence.
The Deseret News reported the escape and captures on the weekend of Nov. 16-18.
Kelbach, Lance and Garrett were apprehended in Burley, Idaho, when a store owner told the men to move on, then called police. They were apprehended a few minutes later. Escapees Jon Ranson Ridge, James Ray Gill and Richard Davis Gill were found in a culvert near the prison.
Walter Williams was apprehended within a day thanks to a report from a young man who saw ther escapee loitering.
By Nov. 18, the last two escapees — Michael Jones and Frank Lopez — surrendered in a Provo salvage yard.
Two quirky stories from the captures.
A group of Green Berets were tasked with scouring nearby Camp Williams for the missing prisoners. As they came upon a culvert, one of the soldiers jokingly yelled out: “It’s dark in there, guys. I’ll just throw a grenade in there.”
“Please don’t,” came the reply, and the three escapees quickly surrendered.
In another instance, a 17-year-old found a man hiding in a trailer on his property in Salt Lake County. Thinking he was a homeless person, he offered the man a candy bar. Only hours later did he report the man to authorities, who quickly made the capture.
Reportedly, police officials briefly contemplated charging the youth with aiding a fugitive.
Kelbach and Lance were sentenced to die in 1967 for killing two men during their crime spree. But in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional, and their death sentences were commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 1977.
The board decided at their last hearing in 1992 that Lance and Kelbach would spend their lives in prison. Lance died in 2010. Kelbach died in 2018 after 51 years in prison.
Here are some stories about the killers, and those who escaped the Utah State Prison, including one man who was on the lam for 22 years before he was recaptured:
“Serial killer Myron Lance dies after years in prison”
“Parole hearing is third for duo but first for victims”
“Too late for Kelbach to appeal, state says”
“Prisoners grow old behind bars”
“Don’t free duo, victims’ relatives plead”
“2 inmates from Utah State Prison have been on run since 1980s”
“Longtime fugitive back in Utah prison”
“Prisoner escaped in ‘85 and is still free”
“Utah State Prison history: Favored penal sites always ‘way out of town’”
“‘Tear down this prison’: Demolition begins on old Utah State Prison in Draper”