13-05-2025
Natural State History: Duo executed in 1997 for killing marshal, park ranger
LOGAN COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Nearly 50 years ago, two men broke out of an Oklahoma prison to go on a crime spree that involved murdering a town marshal and a park ranger in Logan County.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Paul Ruiz and Earl Van Denton escaped from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The two men were both serving life sentences. Ruiz for armed robbery. Van Denton for murder.
On June 23, 1977, the pair were a part of a 20-member crew tasked with tearing down a brick factory near the prison when they decided to escape.
They had been placed in an empty building during a lunch break. The door to the building was not guarded, which allowed Ruiz, Van Denton and Elmer Finin to escape.
Two of the guards in charge of supervising the work crew were demoted and suspended after the incident.
The three men fled from the prison into the city of McCalester. Shortly after the escape, Finin separated from Ruiz and Van Denton. Finin was arrested in Hot Springs on October 31, 1977, at a service station where he worked. He was returned to the prison he escaped from and died there on October 21, 1981.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the first possible murder associated with Ruiz and Van Denton's crime spree happened on June 27, 1977, when Gerald Tiffee disappeared in Boswell, Oklahoma. However, the two were never charged with the disappearance.
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Ruiz and Van Denton headed southeast to Louisiana. Ruiz and Denton murdered Jimmy Cockrell near Colfax. Cockrell's body was found on June 28. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says it is suspected that on the same day, Ray Jones and Alton Wilson were killed near Franklinton, Louisiana. Their bodies were found in Tiffee's pickup truck, which had been submerged in a flooded gravel pit.
The men headed north into Arkansas in a stolen car. When they got a flat tire near Magazine, they rolled the tire to town to have it repaired.
Marvin Richie was Magazine's marshal. He was informed of the men's actions by citizens. Richie went to offer assistance. Ruiz and Van Denton ultimately kidnapped Richie in an attempt to take his car. They drove through Magazine and Blue Mountain, where they were spotted in the patrol car with Richie handcuffed in the rear seat.
The men drove to Ashley Recreation Area on the shore of Blue Mountain Lake. They stopped a truck driven by two United States Army Corps of Engineers rangers, David Small and Opal James.
The rangers were ordered into the patrol car, and Ruiz and Van Denton drove into a thickly wooded area.
The two men handcuffed Small and Richie together. They forced them into the trunk of the patrol car. Meanwhile, they made James lie on the ground behind the car.
Ruiz took Small's watch and one of the men took Richie's shirt. Before closing the trunk, they shot Small and Richie. Richie was killed. Small was hit in the chest and blacked out for a period, but eventually regained consciousness.
Small was rescued five hours later by searchers.
Ruiz and Van Denton took the James and rangers' truck south.
They abandoned the truck about forty miles from Magazine. They killed James there and hiked to Oden in Montgomery County, where they stole another truck.
The two men used the stolen truck to drive back into Oklahoma, where they stole a taxi cab in Purcell on July 1. They killed the driver of the cab, Melvin Short. His body was found in Grady County, Oklahoma. Using Short's car, the men drove to Portland, Oregon, where they were captured on July 8.
They had contacted a family member in Oklahoma for financial assistance, but the family member contacted law enforcement. The men were waiting for a money transfer when they were captured.
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At the time of their arrest, Van Denton and Ruiz were with a third man, David Christofferson. The men had picked up Christofferson while he was hitchhiking in eastern Oregon. Christofferson was questioned and released.
The men were eventually extradited to Arkansas. They were tried in Booneville on capital murder charges and convicted on April 27, 1978.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas said during the trial, Small identified the fugitives who kidnapped him and shot him along with Ritichie and James. The jury found them guilty and recommended the death penalty.
The Arkansas Supreme Court overturned their convictions due to the pretrial publicity in Logan County, which was deemed prejudicial to their case.
A second trial was held in Morrilton in 1983. They were convicted again and sentenced to death. The death sentences were overturned by the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1987, and that phase of the trial was held again. They were convicted again and sentenced to death.
Another appeal was filed in 1989 to the Eighth Circuit. It was denied. A final appeal was made on January 3, 1997. It was also denied.
Ruiz and Van Denton were executed at the Cummins Unit prison in Lincoln County on January 8, 1997, along with Kirt Wainwright, who was convicted of murder and robbery in Nevada County in 1988.
Ruiz and Van Denton declined to give final statements. Small was present for the executions but was not allowed to view the proceedings.
Van Denton was executed first and declared dead at 7:09 p.m. Ruiz was executed and declared dead at 8 p.m.
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