Custer County triple homicide suspect in custody

The suspect in the Custer County, Colorado triple homicide has been arrested by New Mexico State Police after a 25-hour manhunt, officials said Tuesday afternoon.

Three people are dead and another has been critically injured after a shooting Monday afternoon near the town of Westcliffe over a property dispute.

In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith said Clark was captured just after 2:45 p.m. He was taken into custody without incident and no one was injured during the course of the arrest, Smith said.

Clark's girlfriend was in Clark's truck with him earlier in the day Tuesday. They were stopped in New Mexico by a task force of state and federal law enforcement officers.

Around 2:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, Custer County law enforcement issued a shelter-in-place order for the Rocky Ridge Road area in the northern part of Custer County, northeast of Westcliffe. It has since been lifted.

"This is a quiet, peaceful town, nothing like this has ever happened," said Rich Smith, Custer County Sheriff. 

The suspect was identified by law enforcement as 45-year-old Hanme Clark. He was believed to be driving a white Dodge truck, license plate BHLK27. The suspect and at least one of the victims were known to be in previous civil disputes over property lines and easements.

Law enforcement officials identified the victims as Rob Geers, 63, Beth Wade, 73, and James Daulton. Patty Daulton was injured in the shooting and is recovering, Smith said.

The Geers were Clark's neighbors, Smith said. Other details of the property dispute law enforcement officials alluded to were not immediately available.

"We have received calls form the suspect complaining about the neighbors and from the neighbors complaining bout the suspect but never imagined it would have ended in a place like this," Smith said. 

Custer County is about 150 miles south of Denver.

Officers say they discovered that Clark's truck had entered the parking lot of the Walmart in Salida and an occupant of the truck went inside and purchased several items. They then left the store and the truck went toward the Methodist Mountain residential area.

"The people living at the left side would not allow people to go down that road," said Harley Gordon, a neighbor.

Clark also appears to be an accomplished mixed martial arts fighter in Colorado. A post from Pancrase MMA in Denver lists one of their fighters as Hanme Clark who uses the nickname "The Ruiner." They list him as being 6'3" and 185 pounds with a purple belt ll in Pancrase Mixed Martial Arts, black belt lll in Taekwondo and experience fighting in Kendo, a Japanese sword-fighting style. He also has several titles through Pancrase.

The organization also lists a news item on its website that reads, "Former Pancrase Student and Colorado MMA Fighter Wanted for Shooting 4," which links to a Daily Mail story about Clark being sought by police.

Court records show a man with the same name as Clark is a plaintiff in a property dispute in Custer County civil court. That case dates back to 2020 and is still open.

None of the victims in Monday's shooting were named in that lawsuit and it wasn't immediately clear if or how they were connected.