Parolee arrested after fiery crash, manhunt through corn fields

After crashing and burning a stolen car, an armed parolee maintained his freedom for a few hours by commandeering another vehicle and running into cornfields Thursday evening. But law enforcement eventually caught up to 24-year-old Alexander Alcala later at his girlfriend's house, according to a Facebook post from the Morgan County Sheriff's Office. 

Alcala allegedly rolled a car on State Highway 144 about two miles southeast of Jackson Lake State Park. The car caught on fire. 

As authorities responded to the scene at 6:50 p.m., Alcala reportedly entered another car which drove from the crash scene at high speed. 

About six miles to the southwest, that car pulled over and Alcala ran from it carrying a handgun. He headed into a cornfield. 

Personnel from the Colorado Department of Transportation and Wiggins Volunteer Fire Department shut down the highway. Morgan County Sheriff's Office deputies, Wiggins Police Department officers, and Colorado State Patrol troopers formed a perimeter. A shelter-in-place warning was issued to residents in a three-mile radius around the area of State Highway 39 and Morgan County Road V.

Police tracked the suspect into two different cornfields but lost his trail after the sun set. They remained in the search area until past midnight. 

It wasn't until 2:15 a.m. Friday that authorities found him. Police were called to the 200 block of Linden Street in Log Lane, near Fort Morgan, for a domestic dispute involving the suspect and a woman. 

Alcala was taken into custody there. The Morgan County Sheriff's Office jailed Alcala on preliminary charges of Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft (one from the Log Lane Police Department and a second that occurred in the Wiggins area Thursday morning), Leaving the Scene of an Accident (a CSP charge), three counts of Second Degree Kidnapping, three counts of Felony Menacing, and Resisting Arrest.  

Alcala is currently on parole with the Colorado Department of Corrections. He is serving a three-year sentence for felony menacing with a weapon, felony eluding and DUI convictions related to a 2019 incident in Sterling. 

That second vehicle which gave the suspect a ride from the crash scene was caught near Wiggins. The driver and two passengers of that vehicle were referred to as victims in the incident by the sheriff's office. They are, the sheriff's office stated, cooperating with the investigation.