This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 11:40 AM- Skeletal remains discovered by a cowboy in a remote canyon near the Four Corners could be that of Jason Wayne McVean, one of three Rambo-style survivalists believed to have killed a police officer May 29, 1998, in a bloody rampage that shocked the region.
"We're 99 percent sure it's him," said Sheriff Mike Lacy Wednesday.
A cowboy riding in Cross Canyon near Hovenweep on June 5 came across the remains, as well as a bullet-proof vest and a camouflage backpack laden with pipe bombs, the sheriff said.
An AK-47 assault rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition and survival equipment were also recovered.
The sheriff said the FBI would "process the human remains for positive identification purposes."
But it may be impossible to determine the cause of death, Lacy said.
"The skull was completely in pieces and many of the body parts were missing. They'd been dragged off by coyotes."
Investigators believe that McVean and Robert Matthew Mason, both 26 of Durango, Colo., and Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, Dove Creek, Colo., stole a white 2 1/2 ton water truck in Cortez, Colo., and then shot and killed Cortez Police Officer Dale Claxton.
In the melee that followed, the trio seriously wounded two Montezuma County, Colo., deputies before disappearing into the rugged area of southeast Utah near Hovenweep National Monument.
After more than a week of a massive manhunt, authorities came across the body of Mason near Bluff, Utah on the banks of the San Juan River. Some 17 months later, deer hunters came across the remains of Pilon.
But McVean, who was believed to be the ring leader, was never found. That led some, including Ann Mason, the mother of Matthew Mason, to believe McVean had made a clean getaway.
That can now be put to rest, Lacy said.
"There is no more legend," he said. "It's over with."