PINEDALE, Wyo. — A father and son accused of heavily using drugs and tying up a woman and her four teenage daughters in a Utah home because they believed the family reported them to authorities surrendered five days later in Wyoming in a bizarre case that also led to the arrest of the younger man’s mother.
Flint Wayne Harrison, 51, and his son, Dereck James “DJ” Harrison, 22, were arrested Saturday after police said they lured the women, restrained them and beat the mother before the victims managed to escape.
Maryann Dalrymple Harrison went to Wyoming to help her son and was detained for a probation violation after leaving Utah without permission, authorities said. The Sublette County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming didn’t provide further information about her, including why she was on probation or her relationship with the elder Harrison.
Both men have refused to talk to investigators trying to learn more about what led up to the violence last week. The break in the manhunt came after Flint Harrison turned himself in Saturday and then worked with authorities to help them find his son.
It’s not clear why the elder Harrison, who is a registered sex offender, surrendered. Hours later, his son was taken into custody without incident in a forested area of western Wyoming.
The younger Harrison told the U.S. Forest Service officer who arrested him that he had been hiding in the trees and brush most of the day until he saw a helicopter involved in the search and knew police were closing in, officials said. He walked toward officers manning a roadblock and surrendered.
“This is an incredible end to a very stressful day,” Sublette County, Wyoming, Sheriff Stephen Haskell said.
The men face various charges stemming from Tuesday attack’s in Centerville, Utah, including aggravated kidnapping and possession of a controlled substance.
The men are accused of tying up the mother and daughters with zip ties. When the elder Harrison hit the woman with a baseball bat, the teens began to break their ties, according to charging documents. In the struggle that followed, one girl slapped away a shotgun pointed at her throat and another grabbed the bat and hit the son, police said.
The victims ran from the house. The father and son had been using methamphetamine heavily over several days, leading to paranoia and the false belief the mother had turned them in, police said.
The younger Harrison was a close friend of the woman’s family. He often visited their home for dinner or picked the girls up from school. The teens, aged 13 to 18, had known him for several years.
The Harrisons fled after the attack and were eventually picked up by someone who took them to Salt Lake City, where they spent Tuesday night in a hotel, authorities said.
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