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B (14:27)

According to a federal source I interviewed about this case, around 7:30pm on that Tuesday night, the Sheriff's office contacted the National Park Service and asked them to send rangers to the coordinates of Russell's last known location, the campsite about 10 miles north of the park where his friend Jack had last seen him on Saturday the 5th. Jack had saved the specific coordinates of that location in a piece of tech he had and provided the information to investigators which allowed them a better chance of finding Russell. By 9:30pm when those two Rangers arrived at the rural campsite off of Forest Road 213, they saw a section of grass that appeared to have been driven through with trailer tire tracks and dirt bike tracks in the earth. About 50ft into the woods, they located a fire pit that had a large, folded up, partially burned outdoor mat stuffed into it. Russell, his toy hauler and his gray pickup were nowhere in sight. Upon closer examination, the mat in the fire pit had what appeared to be blood splashed on it and several puncture marks were in it that resembled bullet holes. Nearby, the rangers observed a pool of blood on the ground and at least seven 9 millimeter shell casings. There were also Indentions in the dirt that looked like someone had dragged something through the area recently. So right away, the rangers knew something was up, and they informed the Coconino County Sheriff's Office that they needed to send a detective to the scene as soon as possible. Technically, since the campsite was several miles outside the boundary of Grand Canyon national park, it fell within the Sheriff's office's jurisdiction. It took about three hours for a deputy with the Sheriff's office to get to the scene, but once he arrived, he joined the rangers and started documenting everything. I obtained his body worn camera footage of this process, and it's eerie to watch, to say the least. It was pitch black outside around 12:30 in the morning, but it was obvious that he and the ranger suspected they were dealing with a potential homicide. As they shined their flashlights around the wooded area, the detective marked off where the shell casings were found and took pictures of various shoe prints and tire tracks on the ground. Additional evidence he collected included a discarded cigarette butt and an eyeglasses case. When he and the rangers opened up the mat from the fire pit, they discovered more bloodstains on it and another 9 millimeter shell casing. The trio kept working and quickly located a loaded.22 Ruger pistol that was still in its case, propped against a nearby tree. Not far from that was a full pack of accompanying ammunition. After checking the serial number on the gun, the detective learned it belonged to Russell Vinton. His family confirmed with me during their interviews that the Ruger was Russell's firearm and he would usually keep it stowed inside the toy haul in case he needed it for protection against wildlife. They described him as a very responsible gun owner. So his firearm being left out in the open like that, seemingly abandoned, was kind of unusual. The law enforcement officers on scene thought so, too. In fact, in the deputy's body cam, you can hear the investigators repeatedly say how weird it was that the gun was just by itself. After gathering all this evidence for more than an hour, the deputy from the Sheriff's office informed the rangers that more units from Coconino county would arrive at daybreak. Meanwhile, back in Prescott, Cherry and Michelle spent the early morning hours of Wednesday, October 9, waiting for updates and getting little to no sleep. Authorities had not yet informed them of all the stuff that had been found at Russell's campsite. But on their own, the family was beginning to piece together that things were not looking good that day. The Coconino County Sheriff's Office published a missing persons flyer for Russell, which featured his photo General Description, last known location, and the make and model and license plates of his GMC Sierra and Firestorm toy hauler. Detectives also got in touch with OnStar, which was software installed in Russell's GMC Sierra, but at the time wasn't a service he actually paid to have activated. But turns out in emergencies that technology can be turned on and used to track suspected stolen vehicles or missing vehicles. When authorities tracked the signal for Russell's truck, it showed it had traveled out of Arizona, into Nevada and then back to Arizona, but it had ended up a long ways away from the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was reportedly pinging in Lake Havasu, a town hundreds of miles away from his last known location. While all this was going on, Amanda, the Vinton's eldest daughter, had booked a flight to Arizona from Colorado, but wasn't expected to land and meet her mom and siblings until late Wednesday afternoon. In the meantime, Cherry and Michelle stayed in touch with detectives. And around one o', clock, one of the investigators called Cherry to let them know that a traffic camera had captured a PH of Russell's silver pickup truck that morning around 10:45am near Lake Havasu City. He wanted to see if the family could tell them if it was Russell behind the wheel, so he texted the image to Cherry, but unfortunately it only showed the truck from behind. You could see the tailgate, some of the driver's side panel and a side mirror, but it was impossible to distinguish who was inside. But Cherry and Michelle had a gut feeling that Russell was not the person operating it. There was a bunch of junk in the back that they didn't recognize, and the toy hauler, which they knew Russell would never be driving without, was gone. A few hours later, the detective called back and informed the family that their suspicions were right. Russell had not been the person driving his pickup in that license plate reader photo. Another person had been. This individual was a 61 year old convicted sex offender and felon, known by law enforcement and the penal system as Patrick Neal Champion, but who for the past 15 years had gone by the legal name Katherine Lynn Quick after transitioning from identifying as male to female while incarcerated. Even more jolting to the Vinton family was what law enforcement told them next. Patrick had been killed around 11:30 that morning in a shootout with local police in Lake Havasu City. According to investigative reports, officers in that jurisdiction had received a cop of the missing persons flyer that Coconino county had sent out about Russell. Around 11am on Wednesday, October 9, two detectives who were patrolling a campground in the craggy wash area of Lake Havasu City happened to spot a gray GMC pickup that resembled Russell's, so they went to check it out. When they got close enough, they could see that there was a person standing near the truck, but as soon as they asked them if they were Russell Vinton, they the individual got into the driver's side of the truck and started shooting at law enforcement. The officers then returned fire and watched as the assailant rammed the vehicle into theirs. When the dust settled, the Lake Havasu detectives emerged mostly unharmed, but the shooter was dead from multiple gunshot wounds and laying face down in the dirt next to the pickup truck. When backup units arrived and started processing the crime scene, they called in an FBI agent who had the capability of comparing the deceased shooter's fingerprints to known offenders in the national database. The stink tattoos on the individual's body were a dead giveaway that they were not Russell Vinton. And when the results from the fingerprint comparison came back that same day, they revealed the suspect was Patrick Neal Champion, who also had a listed alias of Katherine Quick. Decades earlier, in 2000, Patrick had been convicted in federal court for kidnapping, sexual assault, and crimes against children. That conviction stemmed from an incident in December 1998 when he and his girlfriend at the time, a woman named Deborah Williams, abducted a 13 year old girl from Arizona and took her to where they lived in Memphis, Tennessee. The victim in that case had met Patrick online under the guise that he was a boy her age, and after convincing her to meet him, she was kidnapped from her family and subjected to horrific acts, but eventually managed to fake an asthma attack and escape. She then contacted her mother who alerted authorities for that offense. Patrick pleaded guilty in both Tennessee state court and federal court and was sentenced to 13 years in the federal prison system and eight years in the state system. Those sentences were served consecutively, meaning after the 13 years in federal prison ran up, an eight year stint in state prison would immediately begin. Even though Patrick confessed to those crimes and took a plea deal, he never really admitted to any wrongdoing. In fact, at the time, he basically just chalked up his deviant axe to making a stupid mistake. According to coverage by the Commercial Appeal, he told a Tennessee judge, quote, I do not agree with all the facts, but the acts actually did happen and therefore I'm willing to take what's coming to me. Stupidity comes in many forms. It walks in great strides with me. This is not normal behavior of mine, end quote. Deborah Williams, the accomplice in that crime, ultimately pleaded guilty too and was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison plus eight years in state prison. But she was released early in 2007. So circling back to Russell's case now, on the afternoon of October 9, 2024, when Coconino county detectives realized that it was convicted felon Patrick Champion who'd been driving Russell's truck, it didn't take them long to start putting the puzzle pieces together. Investigators quickly showed Jack Russell's dirt biking buddy photos of the shooter from Lake Havasu City, and he confirmed that was the same person who'd been camping near him and Russell a few days earlier. Now, law enforcement suspected this individual had likely harmed or even killed Russell. But without Russell's body or the missing toy hauler to provide them a new lead, they weren't sure where to start looking for him. No trace of Russell had been found in the woods around the campsite near the Grand Canyon. And now that the suspected offender was deceased, they'd lost their best lead at finding him. In reality, though, Russell was somewhere, a specific place. Actually a morgue in Las Vegas, Nevada.

F (24:45)

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B (25:52)

Unbeknownst to Coconino county investigators and Russell's family on Sunday, October 6th. So several days before alarms were ever raised about Russell's whereabouts, 911 dispatchers all the way in Las Vegas had received a phone call from a motorist who wanted to report finding an unknown man's body on the side of the southbound lane of Interstate 15 between mile markers 88 and 89. The person who reported the discovery said the man was laying on the ground about 100ft away from the road and didn't appear to be alive. When troopers with Nevada Highway Patrol arrived on scene, they saw exactly what the caller had described. A deceased man laying in the dirt with blood on his face. Investigative reports state that it was obvious the man had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and appeared to have been dragged to the spot, perhaps from a vehicle. By 9am that day, authorities had shut down traffic around the scene and started investigating. But there was no ID found on the victim. So for the time being, Las Vegas Metro Police Department's homicide section had to label him as a John Doe. The department quickly put out a press release asking anyone with information to come forward, but it doesn't appear anyone did, because a few days later, on October 9, when everything was evolving for Coconino county in relation to Russell's missing persons case and the officer involved shooting in Lake Havasu City, Las Vegas Metro PD released a composite sketch of their John Doe, asking for anyone who recognized him to get in touch. Back in Prescott, Arizona, the Vintons, who were all together by that point, received a text from a friend that included a link to a news article about the John Doe who'd been found in Las Vegas. And one look at that composite sketch told them all they needed to know the John Doe was a dead ringer for Russell. His family didn't know it at that time, but behind the scenes, an officer from Las Vegas Metro Police whose dad was involved in the Coconino county investigation, had been hanging out and talking about their respective cases. And the son who worked for Las Vegas authorities realized that Russell, the victim in his dad's case, might just be the John Doe his own department had yet to identify. After making that connection, Russell's official identification was made the next day, October 10, after law enforcement compared copies of his fingerprints to ones that the FBI had on file. Turns out, earlier in his life, Russell had done some work at a military base in Washington state, and one of the requirements for that job was that he had to submit copies of his fingerprints to the federal government. Thankfully, those were still on file even that many years later. And just to be extra sure, a DNA comparison was done later to officially confirm his identity. Russell's family told me that the results of his autopsy indicated he'd been shot multiple times and that his death was believed to have been instant. His postmortem exam didn't reveal stippling on his body or gunshot residue, which is indicative of his killer standing several feet away from him when they fired. All the physical evidence investigators had gathered from the crime scene suggested that the Murder took place at the campsite on or near the rug that strongly suspected was intended to be burned. The drag marks that were discovered on the ground showed no signs of someone struggling, which Russell's family believes means he was definitely dead when his killer moved his body into the toy hauler. That detail has given his wife and daughters some peace, because for them, it means that Russell didn't suffer or lay bleeding out for a long period of time. Investigative reports related to the Lake Havasu City shooting state that Authorities eventually located a 9 millimeter Taurus handgun in the bed of Russell's pickup truck, and that firearm belonged to Patrick. Ballistics testing later confirmed it was the murder weapon. They also found a 20 gauge pump action Weatherby shotgun at the Lake Havasu City crime scene as well, which didn't belong to Russell. Both firearms had originally been purchased by other people in 2013 and 2015. But according to Russell's daughter Michelle, law enforcement later revealed to the family that her dad's killer had bought those two firearms in private sales via Facebook Marketplace. When investigators did some digging into the sale of those guns to determine who'd sold them, they discovered that the profiles used to conduct the transactions were closed. So, unfortunately, that's where that part of their investigation came to a halt. Now, you're probably asking yourself the same question I did, which is, what was Russell's killer doing out in society as a convicted felon? Well, the simple answer is he'd served his time in both federal and state prison and by 2017, was out on supervised release. Patrick was a registered sex offender who, about a month before Russell's murder, had left Tennessee, failed to register a new address, and was in the wind. Investigative reports show that he had relatives in Montana and Yuma, Arizona, but was estranged from all those folks. So it's unclear what exactly his intentions were in going out west. In the aftermath of the crime and trying to piece together everything, Authorities were able to get into the offender's cell phone and trace some of the locations he'd been to. One area was a spot in Nevada known as Telephone Cave. When investigators went there in late October, they found Russell's missing toy hauler and dirt bike. The vehicles had been abandoned, and crime scene photos I received via a public records request show that there were traces of blood visible on the rear loading door. So that corroborated what everyone already suspected, which was that Russell's body had been loaded into the trailer before being dumped in Las Vegas on October 18, almost two weeks after his murder. 260 people attended Russell's funeral. It was held at a church in Phoenix because he'd grown up in the Midwest and made so many friends in several different states during his lifetime, dozens of other people attended the memorial service. Virtually friends and loved ones who spoke during the ceremony relayed how much Russell would be missed, but they also celebrated the full life he'd lived. They praised him for his love of family, positive outlook on life, ability to make friends, his skill as a backgammon player, and, of course, his passion for riding motorcycles. Russell was originally from Ohio and Indiana and grew up loving the great outdoors. His younger sister Carol, told me that their family always went tenting and hiking growing up, and Russell, in particular, gravitated toward anything with two wheels, especially motorbikes. In 1978, he met Cherry after visiting Southern California, and by December 1980, they were married. While raising their three kids in the 80s and 90s, the Vintons regularly took camping trips, which included going out in their dune buggy or riding motorbikes on trails. Russell and Cherry lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, early in their marriage, and then, as their family grew, had moved to Phoenix and eventually Prescott. In the mid 2000s, when Russell was just 47 years old, he'd been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer that his family told me came with a terminal prognosis when it was discovered. But miraculously, after undergoing a bone marrow transplant and being prescribed medications for several years, Russell recovered, and he was able to go back to work and do all the hobbies he loved, especially riding motorbikes. By 2022, he'd officially retired from his career as a mechanical engineer, and he'd gotten really involved in a motorcycle riding group called the Prescott Trail Riders. He also received training from Prescott National Forest on how to administer first aid and handle emergencies in the wilderness. He was also a proud member of the over the Hill Gang Club, which was a group of volunteers from the greater Prescott area who identified and maintained overgrown trail systems with permission from the National Forest. These folks would clean up routes or establish new trails to help visitors more easily navigate the landscape. And Russell, in particular, was really gifted in this type of work because he'd been an engineer. He had a knack for finding remnants of old trails or, in some instances, mapping out new ones. In fact, to this day, there are a handful of paths that still exist that people refer to as Russell's trails simply because his reputation for blazing them was so widely known. Russell was also a devoted Christian who used his interest in nature and motorcycle riding to minister to other people who also shared those same hobbies. His family told me that he was the kind of Christian who preferred to show others the benefits of his faith through his actions, and that included building strong relationships with people while enjoying the great outdoors. Even though he was described as a cautious person when it came to strangers, he was also the type of guy who was kind to someone he didn't know. People said he'd give the shirt off his own back for a person or jump out of bed in the middle of the night to help a fellow rider who'd gotten stuck somewhere. At his funeral, his son Jake stated that Russell was like a hero to him. No matter how difficult or wild a situation was, Jake trusted that his father was always capable of handling it. Amanda noted in her eulogy that even though no one can ever truly know what happened between her dad and his killer on the night of the crime, their family felt certain that Russell's death had stopped a very dangerous person from bringing harm to someone else. And it's so true, because as wild as it is to think about, Russell's murder and the theft of his vehicles were the catalyst that allowed authorities to track his killer down and attempt an arrest. It's unfortunate that the offender effectively chose suicide by cop, but in its own way, that outcome has brought the Vinton family some closure. Michelle, one of Russell's daughters, told me she's thankful they don't have to go through a trial. She also mentioned that investigators informed the family that her dad's killer had communicated with other people after the crime, claiming that Russell's death was an act of self defense, and Michelle said that she would not have been able to endure hearing that used as a defense in court. In early 2025, with the case officially wrapped up, the Coconino County Sheriff's Office invited Cherry and the kids to meet staff at their department. The main detective over the case shared reports and other things from the investigation to try and answer any lingering questions the family had. One detail that stood out to everyone was that Russell's autopsy report showed he had food in his stomach when his body was found. Cherry, in particular, wanted to know what that meant, and law enforcement relayed to her it meant that Russell had eaten a meal shortly before he was killed. The contents of the food indicated it was homemade chili she'd prepared for him and sent with him for his trip. In a strange way, the family was glad to know that Russell had eaten that particular meal before his murder. According to what Russell's sister Carol and his daughter Amanda Told me the family was also informed that Russell had shared his food with his killer on the night of the crime. So they'd literally dined together shortly before the murder, which, as awful as that seemed in hindsight, was just more proof to Russell's loved ones that even until his dying breath, he was thinking of others and living out his conviction to be kind and generous to the less fortunate. His family told me that he was not a naive person, and it's important that the public listening to this episode knows that. In fact, they said that if Russell had ever come across someone who emitted even the faintest indication of being dangerous, it would have been in his character to immediately move to a new campsite and report that person to the park service. Russell's daughter Amanda, who is an attorney and has degrees in psychology and criminal justice, told me that in her opinion, her father's killer displayed sociopathic behaviors, which has often been described as having no remorse for one's actions or doing whatever is needed to garner trust and sympathy from others. Russell's sister Carol shared a possible example of this with me. She told me that after the crime, Russell's friend Jack, who'd left their campsite early, mentioned that Russell's killer had said they had cancer and had said it almost in a way to make it sound like their travels out west were gonna be a last hurrah. Before letting that diagnosis take over, Carol told me that she wonders if Russell's killer bringing up cancer might have been alive, but one that tricked Russell, a cancer survivor himself, into being more sympathetic toward their situation. I haven't found any source material that verifies whether or not the offender in this case had cancer. But if that claim was fabricated, I can definitely see where that might have pulled on Russell's heartstrings and made him more trusting. There's no doubt in Amanda's mind that if her father's murderer had remained at large and not been killed by law enforcement at lake Havasu city, someone else would have been killed at some point in time. And there's credible evidence that supports her opinion. Court documents show that when federal probation officials were assessing Patrick's early release in mid June 2017, they approved a transfer to a mental health institution in Tennessee before going to a union mission in Memphis. One reason for this move to the mental health facility was because Patrick had created two separate hit lists with a combined total of 58 people's names on them. Some of the names on those lists included judges, doctors, family members, and probation officers. And yet, despite knowing that information staff with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Tennessee Department of Corrections allowed this person back into society just one month later. Sure, there were all the usual requirements like post release supervision and making sure there was an updated address for the sex offender registry. But it seems that when Russell's murder occurred, no one was really checking up on that kind of stuff anymore when it came to this specific offender. Amanda told me in her interview that as the daughter of a murder victim, that reality is extremely upsetting. But as an attorney, she knows that the justice system's failure with her father's killer doesn't just land on one person. She said that the system as a whole, meaning judges, parole officers and attorneys, were negligent. She's not necessarily an advocate for harsher punishment for criminals, but unfortunately, she's not sure what can be done to fix the situation that allowed her father's murderer to be permitted back into society. Russell's family told me that since the murder, Jack, the man who was with Russell but left early, has wrestled with Survivor's Guild. He was the only other person who saw his friend's killer other than Russell, and I imagine he replays much of that fateful weekend over and over again in his mind. Cherry and her daughters told me that he's asked them several times how in the world they're able to get through this tragedy, and they've told him the same thing they tell everyone else, which is their unwavering faith that God is in control of everything, even when it doesn't feel that way. They pull that strength from a note they found in Russell's Bible after his murder, which read, God is faithful always, exclamation point. After the crime, Russell's friends with the Prescott Trail riders built a bench in his memory and placed it at the end of a trail. It overlooks a vista with a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape. And fixed to the back of it is a plaque that reads, quote, isn't this great? That's a phrase that people closest to Russell told me he would usually say whenever he stopped to admire a scenic view. Isn't this great? I encourage you to let Russell's words sink in. Use them as a reminder to stare just a little bit longer at your next sunset. Recall them to mind whenever you're visiting your family. Live your life the way Russell Vinton lived his, with no regrets and a sense of purpose and appreciation for every second you're alive. For Cherry, Michelle, Amanda and the rest of the Vinton family members who are listening and gathered together this week to spread Russell's ashes. Your loss is immeasurable, but I'm so thankful you trusted me with your story. I hope that everyone else who listens and may ever find themselves in a similar situation as you all did in October 2024 will remember to find a source of hope and strength like you all have. Park Predators is an Audio Chuck production. You can view a list of all the source material for this episode on our website parkpredators.com and you can also follow park predators on Instagram arcpredators. I think Chuck would approve.

F (42:45)

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H (43:16)

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