Point Mackenzie Escapee Captured after Three Weeks on the Run

 

Alaska State Troopers announced the capture of escaped convict Brian Church on Monday He was taken into custody at a cabin on east Butterfly Lake on Monday afternoon.

A tip was called into AST reporting that someone was staying in a cabin that was supposed to be unoccupied at 3:30 pm on Monday. Because Church was suspected to still be in the area in the area since his escape, the probability was high that this burglar was in fact Church.

Helo-3 was dispatched to the scene and soon made contact with Church inside the cabin. He was taken into custody and “remanded on the escape charges and additionally charged with numerous burglaries,” troopers revealed.


There was at least one other break-in that can be positively attributed to Church since his April 12th escape from the Point Mackenzie Correctional Farm. A break-in on April 22nd  was documented with a photo of Church when contact was made with him by a man in the area of Flat Lake. The man called in and reported that he had taken the picture of a man breaking into a cabin at 7 pm that day. Troopers verified that the man in the photo was Church.

Troopers dispatched to the cabin at approximately 9 am on the 23rd with SERT assets according to the troopers reporting. When authorities arrived at the cabin they found that Church had already left. Evidence at the scene showed that Church had fled to the south.

Church was on the run for approximately three weeks prior to his capture.