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The criminal cases of a prison escapee and an accomplice charged in the 2010 slayings of a Tecumseh couple while vacationing in New Mexico took a turn Friday when both defendants pleaded guilty in an Albuquerque courtroom.
Tracy Province, 44, one of the three inmates who broke out of an Arizona prison in the summer of 2010, and Casslyn Welch, 45, the woman who helped them escape, entered their pleas Friday in the deaths of Gary and Linda Haas, who were carjacked by the escapees on the lam.
Both, who faced murder charges and could have received the death penalty, pleaded guilty to charges of carjacking resulting in a death, conspiracy, and the use of a firearm during a violent crime, among other charges.
Province agreed to serve at least five consecutive life terms while Welch faces up to life in prison on at least two of the counts, according to prosecutors.
Relatives of the Tecumseh couple were in the courtroom for the hearing as prosecutors gave details of events on or about Aug. 2, 2010.
The couple reportedly took the same route on their annual camping trips to Pagosa Springs, Colo., each year, often stopping at some of their favorite places year after year.
Gary and Linda Haas, both 61, were at a rest stop just inside the New Mexico state line when Province and another escaped inmate, John McCluskey, who is Welch’s cousin and fiancé, forced themselves into the cab of the Haases’ pickup, prosecutors said.
They forced the couple to drive west on Interstate 40 as Welch followed in another vehicle before they were ordered to pull off onto a two-lane road, stop and go into their trailer.
Prosecutors said Province and Welch waited outside while McCluskey went inside with the couple, where both were apparently shot and killed.
The trio then drove the truck and trailer to a remote ranch in eastern New Mexico, where they burned the trailer with the Haases’ bodies inside before driving off with the couple’s truck and some of the couple’s belongings, according to the testimony.
McCluskey, who remains jailed, is scheduled for a jury trial in March 2013 in relation to his charges; he could face the death penalty upon conviction.
Welch also pleaded guilty last year in Arizona to state charges of helping the trio of inmates flee the medium-security prison near Kingman, with the escape prompting a nationwide manhunt.
Linda Haas was a budding photographer who loved computer work and Gary Haas loved to go fishing. Before their deaths, the couple had taken up a new hobby of going to garage sales.
The criminal cases of a prison escapee and an accomplice charged in the 2010 slayings of a Tecumseh couple while vacationing in New Mexico took a turn Friday when both defendants pleaded guilty in an Albuquerque courtroom.
Tracy Province, 44, one of the three inmates who broke out of an Arizona prison in the summer of 2010, and Casslyn Welch, 45, the woman who helped them escape, entered their pleas Friday in the deaths of Gary and Linda Haas, who were carjacked by the escapees on the lam.
Both, who faced murder charges and could have received the death penalty, pleaded guilty to charges of carjacking resulting in a death, conspiracy, and the use of a firearm during a violent crime, among other charges.
Province agreed to serve at least five consecutive life terms while Welch faces up to life in prison on at least two of the counts, according to prosecutors.
Relatives of the Tecumseh couple were in the courtroom for the hearing as prosecutors gave details of events on or about Aug. 2, 2010.
The couple reportedly took the same route on their annual camping trips to Pagosa Springs, Colo., each year, often stopping at some of their favorite places year after year.
Gary and Linda Haas, both 61, were at a rest stop just inside the New Mexico state line when Province and another escaped inmate, John McCluskey, who is Welch’s cousin and fiancé, forced themselves into the cab of the Haases’ pickup, prosecutors said.
They forced the couple to drive west on Interstate 40 as Welch followed in another vehicle before they were ordered to pull off onto a two-lane road, stop and go into their trailer.
Prosecutors said Province and Welch waited outside while McCluskey went inside with the couple, where both were apparently shot and killed.
The trio then drove the truck and trailer to a remote ranch in eastern New Mexico, where they burned the trailer with the Haases’ bodies inside before driving off with the couple’s truck and some of the couple’s belongings, according to the testimony.
McCluskey, who remains jailed, is scheduled for a jury trial in March 2013 in relation to his charges; he could face the death penalty upon conviction.
Welch also pleaded guilty last year in Arizona to state charges of helping the trio of inmates flee the medium-security prison near Kingman, with the escape prompting a nationwide manhunt.
Linda Haas was a budding photographer who loved computer work and Gary Haas loved to go fishing. Before their deaths, the couple had taken up a new hobby of going to garage sales.
Gary Haas had served in the U.S. Air Force and worked in construction before going to work as an electrician at General Motors in Oklahoma City in 1978. He enjoyed rebuilding tractors, trucks, boats and dune buggies.
Linda Haas earned her teaching degree from Missouri Southern, and taught before she began work at General Motors in 1979 in Oklahoma City, where she was a tool and die specialist and also trained and educated GM employees. Both retired from GM in 2007 and began to enjoy an abundance of traveling in their retirement.
Both were laid to rest in their hometown of Southwest City Cemetery, where they were high school sweethearts.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
