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Oxford Eagle, Oct. 11, 1997
 
Car hijacked from convenience store
Ed Pierce believed involved
 
Chase McFadden STAFF WRITER
 
The Yoknapatawpha Sheriff's Department has reported that Edward Pierce, the escaped murder suspect who has been on the F.B.I.'s Most Wanted List for several weeks, has been spotted near San Antonio, Tx.
 
According to Yoknapatawpha Sheriff's Department Public Relations Officer Elizabeth Jones, San Antonio police have positively identified Pierce from a surveillance tape taken from a gas station where Pierce allegedly stole a car early Thursday morning.
 
Jones said federal investigators were contacted after a white Ford Econoline van owned by Phyllis and Jackson Sutterton was stolen from the pump area by a man who allegedly resembled Pierce.
 
According to Jones, San Antonio police say the suspect approached Mrs. Sutterton as she finished filling up the van and forced her to give him the keys. Mr. Sutterton was inside the station at the time, picking up snacks and paying for the gas, and could not get back into the parking lot in time to confront the suspect, Jones added.
 
Mrs. Sutterton identified Pierce when police presented her with a photo of him, although she later said that she was not "100 percent positive" that the thief was Pierce, according to Jones.
 
Upon further examination of the surveillance tapes, San Antonio Police Sergeant Fred Nunez contacted federal officials investigating Pierce's escape and said he believed the perpetrator of the theft was a positive match, Jones said.
 
Pierce escaped a Sheriff's Department transport van that crashed on Jackson Avenue in Oxford Sept. 20, killing one deputy and injuring another, and then is believed to have left the area with fellow escapee Anthony Phelps.
 
Phelps, who police say was the Proud Larry's Attacker, was found dead in a motel room in Amite, La., on Sept. 27. Authorities say Phelps died of internal bleeding related to the accident.
 
Jones said Mr. and Mrs. Sutterton, who live in Dallas, had been in San Antonio for a week visiting friends, and were refueling their van before beginning the trip home.
 
The security videotape from the incident is currently being reviewed by officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Jones, who said the tape shows a medium-build man wearing jeans and a Hawaiian print shirt walk up quickly to the driver's side of the van, speak a few words with Mrs. Sutterton, and then jump into the van and pull away.
 
Mrs. Sutterton was not injured in the incident, Jones added. Jones said anyone with information about Pierce or Victoria Symons, a former university student and Proud Larry's waitress who is thought to be Pierce's companion, should contact authorities immediately. Both are considered armed and dangerous and should not be confronted without help of the proper authorities.

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