Two escapees from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary as being involved in the kidnapping and killing of the officers here in Arkansas. They are very dangerous, and we ask the public not to try to apprehend these individuals. If they have any information about them in Arkansas, call the Arkansas State Police or the FBI.
That will be explained in just a moment. First, let me explain to you that our friend Randy Dixon from the Pryor Center is back with us. Hello again.
Dixon: Kyle. Hello, Randy.
Kellams: That's the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. What can you explain to us?
Dixon: Well, that was Special FBI Agent John Kelly talking about two escapees from an Oklahoma prison who went on a two-week killing spree in 1977 that stretched from Oklahoma to Louisiana, through Arkansas, back into Oklahoma, and ended up in Portland, Oregon. And it's just a story of two incredibly evil men who, in two weeks, wreaked havoc on a good part of the country. Their names were Paul Ruiz and Earl Van Denton.
They were both serving life sentences in Oklahoma for different crimes. They didn't know each other before they got into prison, but in June of '77, the two escaped from a work detail and went on the run. It's believed they killed an Oklahoma man, stole his truck, and drove to Louisiana. Then in Louisiana, they killed three more men and then returned north, driving through Arkansas.
Well, the two inmates had car trouble near the town of Magazine.
Kellams: In the Arkansas River Valley.
Dixon: That's right. And when Town Marshal Marvin Ritchie stopped to help them, they kidnapped him. The escapees later encountered two park rangers, Opal James and David Small, not far from where they got the marshal. Well, they put Marshal Ritchie and Ranger Small in the trunk of Ritchie's patrol car and shot them both in the trunk and left them.
Now Small survived a gunshot wound to the chest, and Ritchie did not survive his gunshot wound to the head. James was taken hostage. And here's one of the first reports from Arkansas as these incidents were unfolding.
Helicopters, planes, and hundreds of police are hoping for a glimpse of the two suspects and their hostage. They're checking all leads and waiting. Arkansas FBI Chief John Kelly, who's leading the manhunt, told reporters there's only a slim chance that missing forest ranger Opal James will be found alive. Kelly said the two gunmen may be escapees from a Louisiana prison. He said they could be the two who kidnapped two Louisiana men several days ago. Kelly said he's not so sure the men are still in the area since authorities didn't set up roadblocks until about five hours after finding the body of Marshal Marvin Ritchie and wounded park ranger David Small. But if the gunmen are near, some think when darkness comes, they may make a move.
Dixon: Okay, this is 1977, so you don't have social media. You don't have statewide alerts that can reach you instantly. And as you heard from that report, authorities were five hours late in putting up roadblocks. But they did have a major manhunt going on. So KATV immediately dispatched Les Bolton to the scene. He was a reporter who also flew a plane.
Dixon: He did, and it was a Channel 7 plane that could get Channel 7 to the stories faster. But he talked to state police about the search.
Arkansas officers, state police, FBI, and local authorities all involved in this area. We have roadblocks set up in all highways going into and out of the national forest. Two or three men from Louisiana came up last night. The car that was stolen and was recovered here that the boys were driving belonged to some men in Louisiana. And the officers from this parish came on up. They had some information for us involving some people down in that area that resembled the people we're looking for. And so we're trying to get with the subject who was shot last night and get some good identification of him at this time.
Dixon: Well, sadly, Opal James was found dead about 40 miles from Magazine. So these two guys ended up returning to Oklahoma, and no one is sure why, but they kidnapped a taxicab driver named James Melvin Short, and they stole his cab.
The ordeal began Friday when this pickup truck was found abandoned six blocks from the service station where 40-year-old James Melvin Short was last seen. He had gone to make a call. His gas tank full, $300 in his wallet. Nothing has been seen or heard of him since. Since his disappearance, friends and relatives have gathered at Melvin Short's trailer home in South Purcell, anxiously awaiting word of his whereabouts, comforting each other. But despite the consoling, it remains difficult for the family to comprehend what is happening.
“He's needed at home. He has four kids and a wife. We need him. Just please don't hurt him. He's weak. He's weak.”
Dixon: Unfortunately, the body of James Short, their seventh victim, was found five days later in Chickasha, Oklahoma, and I believe in a quarry. Now, the taxicab that they stole made it all the way to Portland, Oregon.
An FBI spokesman says Ruiz and Van Denton both had concealed knives on them when caught but did not have a chance to resist when they were collared a short distance from a taxicab reportedly belonging to one of their alleged victims. The second suspect, Earl Van Denton, was serving a life sentence for murder when he and Ruiz tunneled out of prison in Oklahoma. Now, the pair are said to be suspects in the killings of a police officer and a Corps of Engineers ranger in Arkansas, plus an Oklahoma taxi driver and a Louisiana motorcyclist. And they may be linked to the disappearance of two other men in Louisiana. After the suspects were transported to the county courthouse jail and then Rocky Butte Jail, where they're being held on bail of a quarter-million dollars each, Portland's FBI agent in charge, John Devine, commented on the capture of the pair.
“At least a dozen agents from the Portland office of the FBI conducted an intensive investigation. They observed these two individuals with another who turned out to be an innocent hitchhiker leave a 1976 Chevrolet.”
They were in the downtown area in the vicinity of Broadway and Oak Street. The odometer on the suspect's car now reads 27,381.9 miles. The question now is exactly how and where were those most recent miles put on this car?
Cliff Johnson, Eyewitness News, Southwest Portland.
Kellams: So they're in custody in Oregon.
Dixon: In Oregon. And so then Governor David Pryor fought, with some resistance, to have the pair extradited to Arkansas so they could stand trial for the murders here.
Kellams: You can imagine.
Dixon: Well, you can imagine.
Kellams: Oh, sure.
Dixon: Oklahoma, Louisiana, all wanted to, of course, convict and sentence them for their crimes. But they were brought back to Arkansas, and an agreement was reached. I believe it was August of '77, and that's when they were brought back. Here is a short report from KATV's Frank Thomas when they returned to Arkansas soil.
What has probably been one of the largest manhunts in the history of Arkansas is at least over for now here in Ozark and in Fort Smith. Paul Ruiz will be housed in Fort Smith at the Sebastian County Jail under the tightest security. Van Denton will be here in Ozark, also under tight security. The next step in this case is through the courtroom, which will take place first of all in Logan County. This is Frank Thomas in Ozark reporting for News Scene 7.
Kellams: I believe that then they were tried in Logan County, which is the home county of Magazine.
Dixon: Yes. And, of course, the prosecutors were seeking the death penalty. So they're back in custody. They have to make an initial court appearance, and of course, it was the talk of not only the county but the state, and heavy security. But here's Les Bolton again with a report on their first appearance at an Arkansas courtroom.
They were brought to the rear door of the Logan County Courthouse. Their route of travel was lined with state, county, and municipal police heavily armed with riot guns. Before Ruiz and Denton had reached Booneville, well over 100 people had gathered at the rear of the courthouse. All seats in the courtroom were filled, and all standing room was gone an hour before the hearing was scheduled to start. The crowd was quiet and orderly. Ruiz and Denton arrived at the courthouse simultaneously in separate cars. The time was 1:50. They were taken immediately from the police cars into Judge Parton's courtroom for the hearing. The hearing was brief. Ruiz and Denton were brought back to the waiting police cars at 2 o'clock and whisked to their jail cells in Ozark and Fort Smith. Prosecuting Attorney Paul X. Williams came to the news on camera to explain what had happened during the court session.
“Both the defendants, Ruiz and Denton, of course, were brought before the judge. Both brought together, which is slightly unusual in a case like this, but the judge felt it was totally proper. They were informed of the nature of charges against them, which everyone knows is capital murder. They were inquired of as to whether or not they had counsel or could retain counsel and answered in the negative. The judge repeated all of this to be absolutely certain they understood what was being asked. They indicated they did want counsel appointed. He appointed Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Bob Blatt, both of Fort Smith.”
Kellams: All right. So all of this has happened in 1977. I imagine the trial doesn't get going until the next year.
Dixon: April 17 of the next year. And again, Frank Thomas, that reporter from KATV, was assigned to cover the trial. Frank is an old friend and colleague of mine. He's living up here in Northwest Arkansas now, but I talked to him last week about his recollection of these two murders, but especially the two men that could have done this.
I believe if there were ever two examples of cold-blooded killers, I would think these two guys would fit the definition of. They really were expressionless entirely during the whole trial. They actually almost appeared like they were bored. They didn't doodle. They didn't show any expressions during the testimony. They didn't even seem to be engaged listening to what people were saying about them. Just really kind of a strange occurrence. I'd covered other trials in my time for Channel 7. I don't think I ever saw two defendants in court who were this expressionless, especially when people were describing the really awful things that they were accused of doing.
Dixon: They were found guilty, yes, and sentenced to death. But over the next decade, there were a series of appeals and overturned verdicts that resulted in two additional resentencing trials, and they both affirmed their death sentences. The juries did. The final trial was held in August of 1987. And here's John Dewey's report on the verdict and sentencing.
Paul Ruiz stepped out of the Conway County Courthouse with little expression, refusing to answer questions about the jury's decision. Earl Van Denton likewise offered only silence. Minutes before, the two spent some nervous moments awaiting their sentencing.
“A jury in each instance has recommended a punishment of death for Ruiz and Denton.”
This sentence brought relief to this man, Lloyd Small. He was the lone survivor in a series of shootings that left two other men dead. In 1977, Ruiz and Denton were convicted and sentenced to death twice for the murders. This resentencing trial, done because of a state error, reconfirmed what Small felt all along means justice.
“It's 10 years, three different trials. Thirty-six people have said put them to death.”
Defense attorneys are appealing the case.
“From the word go, we expected this jury verdict, and we planned our case accordingly. We think there's some major errors in the trial.”
The judge set an October 28 execution date for both Ruiz and Denton, but that will automatically be stayed once attorneys file their appeals.
Dixon: Denied appeals by the U.S. District Court, and then on to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and then the Supreme Court. They were all denied. That took another decade. So we're finally looking at an execution date of Jan. 8, 1997.
Kellams: So we're talking two decades post.
Dixon: Yes. Their crime spree. Yes. And on this date, the state had scheduled a second of the two only triple executions that took place in Arkansas by lethal injection.
Kellams: So these two men were to be executed, and then there was a third person to be executed.
Dixon: Yes, and it's all going to happen on the same day. Yes. One at 7, one at 8, one at 9. There seems to be this grisly ritual between the Department of Corrections and the media. I've covered dozens of executions over the years, and there's a process that seems a little odd to me that this happens. But there's a time that all the cameras are set up. The spokesman for the Department of Correction for years and years was Dina Tyler, and she had the awkward task. And this is how it was set up: all the media was there with cameras surrounded around a podium and a desk. And the desk had a telephone.
Kellams: Like a landline telephone?
Dixon: Yes. And all the cameras would wait, and the phone would ring. Cameras would start rolling. Dina Tyler would answer the phone, take the message from the death chamber, and announce it to the media. And here she is with both of those executions an hour apart.
“A lethal injection was administered at 7:05 p.m., and the coroner has pronounced Earl Van Denton dead at 7:09 p.m. this eighth day of January 1997, thereby carrying out the judgment and sentence of the Circuit Court of Conway County, Arkansas, of death by lethal injection. Such judgment having been entered Aug. 27, 1987, and pursuant to the Oct. 3, 1979, verdict of a lawfully constituted jury which found him guilty of the crime of capital murder. Prior to the execution, the director asked inmate Denton if he wished to make a final statement. His answer was no. A lethal injection was administered at 7:56 p.m., and the coroner has pronounced Paul Ruiz dead at 8 p.m. this eighth day of January 1997, thereby carrying out the judgment and sentence of the Circuit Court of Conway County, Arkansas.”
Dixon: You know, they would do the perp walk, as they call it, and all the photographers would get their shots, and then they'd put them in the car. And there's always that moment before the authorities get in the car to drive off that they're just sitting there. And so the photographer always zooms in, focuses past the glass, and you've got a close-up shot of the perp's face. And I'll never forget, there's a shot of Earl Van Denton, who looks at Channel 7's camera and gives the most sinister grin of anyone I've ever seen.
Kellams: No last words.
Dixon: Cold-blooded. Yes. And as they said, they had no last words. They went through this entire rampage without uttering a word or showing emotion. Now, on the other hand, the victims and victims' families were there to witness, and they had plenty to say. So let's give them the last chance to talk. This first person, and this is right after the execution, is David Small. He was the man, the Arkansas park ranger, who was shot and survived.
“I'm sure there's hard feelings and everything, but right now, the only emotion I'm feeling is relief that it's finally over with.”
Which one of the men shot you?
“Denton shot me. Yeah, and Ruiz shot Mr. Ritchie. With one of them executed, it wasn't that much of a relief because it was both of them that violated us. And when the second one was executed, that completed it. Everything that they did to me has been justified. Now it's taken 19 years, six months, and 10 days for justice to finally be done, and I am thankful that it's over with.”
Kellams: Three executions that night.
Dixon: Yes. That's obviously the lead story at 10. As a matter of fact, it wasn't. A huge ice storm blew in. Now, at least at 6 o'clock, it wasn't the lead story. At 10 o'clock, it probably was. We didn’t record the 10 o’clock news, but I’m guessing the weather probably led the news that night.
Kellams: Randy Dixon is with the Pryor Center. Thank you, Randy.
Dixon: Thank you.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
