Deputies Search Washington Woods For Two Brothers Kansas Murder Suspect Fled Into Forest After Shootout With Officer

Sheriff’s deputies patrolled the woods and manned roadblocks Sunday in the third day of a manhunt for a Kansas murder suspect and his brother who fled into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest following a shootout.

The brothers may have had survival training, Lewis County Sheriff John McCroskey said.

“Originally we thought, they’re from Kansas, flat country, they probably wouldn’t be able to do well once they left the highway. This is rugged country,” McCroskey said, describing the steep, wooded terrain of the forest.

But the sheriff’s office has learned Terry Terhune, 26, and Curtis Terhune, 29, may have been trained in outdoor survival, and that Curtis Terhune may have been in the Packwood area for the past four months. The men have relatives in the area, McCroskey added.

Several people have reported seeing men matching the brothers’ descriptions emerging from the woods, some of them running, McCroskey said.

“It seems yesterday (Saturday) their direction was different than it is today, but terrain could dictate that,” McCroskey said.

Police were preparing a door-to-door search Monday of as many of the 800 nearby homes as possible, McCroskey said. Officials believe the Terhunes may have broken into one of the many unoccupied vacation homes in the area. Only about 350 homes are occupied year-round, McCroskey said.

Authorities have been searching for the Terhunes since a Friday night shootout between the Terhunes and a sheriff’s sergeant.

Kansas authorities told the Lewis County sheriff’s office on Wednesday or Thursday that murder suspect Terry Terhune was believed to be in the area, McCroskey said.

Police discovered where he was staying after several people identified him from a photograph, McCroskey said.

Friday night, sheriff’s deputies were preparing to serve the Kansas warrant when someone spotted the Terhunes leaving a residence in a van, McCroskey said.

Lewis County Sgt. Pat Smith stopped the van, but while he talked to a third man who had been driving, the Terhunes took off in the van, McCroskey said.

Smith shot out the van’s back tires and gave chase, McCroskey said. As Terry Terhune drove, Curtis Terhune broke the van’s back window and threw potatoes and a gallon of oil at the pursuing cruiser, McCroskey said.

Then Curtis Terhune fired bullets into the cruiser’s windshield, light bar and hood, McCroskey said.

“One shot was head-level with the officer,” McCroskey said. “It’s just a miracle he wasn’t hurt.”

The van turned onto a Forest Service road, and eventually crashed in a ditch, McCroskey said. As the Terhunes ran away, they fired several more shots, he said.

The police released the van’s driver after determining he was not involved. The driver lives nearby and was giving the Terhunes a ride.

Terry Terhune has been charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of 40-year-old Steven Lott in Anthony Lake, Kan.