Armed citizen helps end manhunt.(Exercising the right: "... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.")

On October 18, 2003, A.J. and Patsy Cantrell were slain in their home in Depew, Oklahoma. Mr. Cantrell was severely beaten about his face and head, while his wife of more than 50 years died from a shotgun blast to her back.

The Cantrells lived across the street from John and Carla Wright, whose daughter, Kathy Biggs, had recently broken up with boyfriend Scott Eizember. Biggs and Eizember had shared a Tulsa apartment, but, after Eizember became abusive, Biggs severed the relationship and moved out. She also filed burglary and domestic charges against Eizember. Although jailed, Eizember managed to get out on bond. He then made his way to the Cantrell house on October 18, apparently murdering the owners so he could use the house as a watch post while waiting for Biggs to return to her parents' home.

Later that day, after Carla Wright and Biggs' son, Tyler (16), returned home, Eizember confronted them and tried to force them to disclose Biggs' whereabouts. When Tyler began to run, Eizember shot him, and when Mrs. Wright began screaming, the enraged man beat her severely with the butt of the shotgun.

Tyler climbed into his pickup truck, but, as he attempted to drive away, Eizember jumped into the truck bed and shot the youth again. The vehicle crashed, and Eizember fled from the scene. Tyler was hospitalized in critical condition, but survived and is recovering. Mrs. Wright was hospitalized for a few days and released.

Law enforcement personnel combed the Creek County area close to the crime scene for nearly three weeks before scaling back the search after no signs of Eizember were found. On November 8, he was featured on the popular Fox television show America's Most Wanted. But not until November 23, when Eizember was spotted in the pantry of a food bank next door to the First Methodist Church in Depew, was there a major break in the case.

Evidence subsequently gathered by authorities indicated that, after hiding in the woods for many days (during which he broke into at least three homes to steal food and water), Eizember snuck into the church food bank on or about October 29, hid in a closet with access to the building's attic, and thereafter watched news reports about the manhunt on television while pilfering pantry food.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m. on November 23, Doyce Pitre, an elderly female food bank volunteer, went to the pantry to collect some provisions for a needy family. When she opened the door, she saw Eizember, who was armed with a handgun. The frightened woman turned and ran to a nearby house to call police, falling and breaking an ankle on the way. Eizember took Pitre's keys from the pantry door where she had left them, found her car, and drove about 200 miles before running out of gas near Waldron, Arkansas.