BOISE, Idaho (NewsNation) — While the manhunt for an escaped Idaho inmate and his accomplice ended Thursday, Idaho State Police are connecting the two to a homicide investigation from their time on the run.
Skylar Meade, 31, and accomplice Nicholas Umphenour, 28, were arrested near the Twin Falls area Thursday after 36 hours on the run.
Now, ISP claims it can connect the pair of white supremacist prison gang members to two killings that happened hundreds of miles away from where they were arrested. Both victims were adult men and an active investigation is ongoing, police said.
Police say they found Meade’s shackles at one of these two crime scenes, and the two men were driving a car of another person who was found dead. The fugitives were found in the victim’s vehicle shortly before their arrest.
Umphenour, who was serving time at the same prison as Meade earlier this year, assisted Meade’s escape Wednesday, allegedly shooting and wounding Idaho corrections officers in the ambulance bay at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. Meade was being prepared to be transported back to the prison, police said.
Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon that Meade was taken to the hospital at 9:35 p.m. Tuesday after he engaged in “self-injurious behavior” and medical staff determined he needed emergency care.
One officer shot by the suspect was in critical but stable condition, police said, while the second wounded officer had serious injuries that were not life-threatening. The third injured corrections officer also sustained injuries that were not life-threatening injuries when a responding officer — incorrectly believing the shooter was still in the emergency room and seeing an armed person near the entrance — opened fire.
The two suspects, who police say have ties to the Aryan Knights, shared a housing unit at the corrections facility for some time.
The Aryan Knights formed in the mid-1990s in Idaho’s prison system to organize criminal activity for a select group of white people in custody, as well as outside prison walls, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in the district of Idaho.
Police said Meade has face and body tattoos that connect him to the Aryan Knights.
Both men now face multiple charges, including aggravated battery against law enforcement and aiding and abetting escape.
The Associated Press and NewsNation’s Sean Noone contributed to this report.