A couple’s flight from justice ended in an unknown death-suicide after the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office ran them into a desert near Yucca, Arizona. Hunter McGuire (26) and Samantha Branek (32) were involved in a high-speed chase on October 21, 2022, when they led the chase into the desert.
Crime Couple Dies After High-Speed Chase with Arizona Sheriff’s Deputies Ends in the Desert
With them was another woman, Brittany Conkling (23) whose involvement with the couple wasn’t elaborated on at the time of their deaths. However, she is from Kingman, where the couple murdered Retta Atkins and Darren VanHouten on June 28, 2022.
The city sits roughly 100 miles southeast of Las Vegas where the two hid following the murders. At this point, McGuire and Branek were linked to a total of four murders in Arizona and Nevada. Prior to the chase, the couple stayed with a woman while hiding.
After a dispute, McGuire gunned the woman on October 17, 2022 and would pawn her belongings. This would put the couple in the sights of authorities investigating the murders. Fleeing into Golden Valley, Arizona, the couple shot and killed Eric Nelson Jr two days later.
As the chase neared its end, the trio ditched Branek’s car and fled into the desert. McGuire reportedly had a rifle with him during the foot pursuit. While Conkling surrendered to the deputies, McGuire and Branek fled deeper into the desert and tried to hide under a tree in thick brush.
According to Conkling—who knew that Branek was wanted for murder and assisted them anyway—the pair had stocked up on food and supplies and were aiming to survive in the desert.
It didn’t play out how the couple expected as there was a helicopter following their movements the whole chase. Deputies attempted to negotiate with McGuire who eventually shot himself in the head.
There is a mystery of whether Branek was killed by McGuire or took her own life as the couple’s bodies were found hours after the chase.
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