VAN BUREN — A man being extradited from California to Wisconsin to face a murder charge stabbed a guard and shot at another as he escaped during a restroom break at a rest stop near Van Buren, police said.
Justin Patrick Welch, 26, of French Camp, Calif., attacked North Atlantic Extradition Service guard Michael Nowland about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday after Nowland escorted Welch and four other prisoners to a restroom at the rest stop on Interstate 40 near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border, Van Buren police Lt. Brent Grill said.
The five prisoners were being taken in a van to various locations by employees of the private transport company based in Columbus, Miss., Grill said. Welch was picked up in the San Diego area and was bound for Waukesha County, Wis., he said.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Welch was wanted in the Oct. 1 stabbing death of a 39-year old woman in Oconomowoc, Wis., near Milwaukee.
Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune issued warrants Wednesday accusing Welch of attempted capital murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, first-degree battery, escape, assault and two counts of theft, all felonies.
When Nowland, 29, removed a belly chain so Welch could use the bathroom, Welch attacked Nowland and stabbed him in the right hand with a sharp tool used to plug holes in flat tires, then beat the guard on the head, Grill said. Grill didn’t know how Welch got the tool.
Welch then took Nowland’s .40-caliber pistol and had another prisoner handcuff truck driver Kevahn Williamson of Riverside, Calif., who also was in the restroom. Welch threatened the other prisoners at gunpoint and walked them outside, where he confronted the other guard, Marian Pulliam, 35, of West Point, Miss.
Welch and Pulliam, who was unarmed, struggled for a short time before Pulliam ran from Welch. Welch fired several shots at Pulliam but did not hit him, Grill said.
Welch, still wearing leg shackles, jumped into the North Atlantic Extradition Service van and drove east on the interstate, Grill said. He said it couldn’t be determined whether Welch continued traveling east.
Nowland was treated for his injuries and released from Summit Medical Center in Van Buren.
A wireless telephone company received a signal in the Little Rock area from a phone in the van, but Grill could not say if it came from the North Atlantic Extradition Service van, he said.
For one thing, he said, the signal was picked up around 4 a.m., only about 75 minutes after Welch drove away in the van. Little Rock is about 150 miles from Van Buren, a drive that would take much longer.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday neither Welch nor the van had been seen since the escape.
The van was described as a white 2007 Dodge van with the letters NAES and North Atlantic Extradition Service below it on both sides. The Mississippi license plate is LTC537.
Welch is described as white, 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing about 190 pounds. He has blond hair, green eyes and tattoos on both arms and his back. He was wearing a green jumpsuit and a black jacket.
Grill said information about the van and Welch have been issued in a nationwide alert.
None of the other prisoners were hurt or attempted to escape, Grill said. The prisoners were held in the Crawford County jail in Van Buren until another van from North Atlantic Extradition Service made the trip from Mississippi and picked them up about mid-afternoon Wednesday, he said.
Welch was charged in late October in a Wisconsin warrant with first-degree intentional homicide after his DNA was found on a knife and gloves near where Kimberly Smith was found stabbed to death in Oconomowoc, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The paper reported that Welch is a California native who plotted with Darren Wold, 41, of Lubbock, Texas, and Jack Johnson, 65, of Obrero Rosarito, Mexico, to kill Smith so Wold, her former boyfriend, could take custody of their 4-year-old son.
Johnson and Welch were arrested Nov. 18 as they crossed into California from Mexico and Wold was arrested the same day in Lubbock.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/14/2010