Mail Tribune News - Cave Junction murder suspect dies in shootout

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2000-09-16

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Cave Junction murder suspect dies in shootout The Associated Press GRANTS PASS -- A man sought in the death of a friend in Cave Junction has been killed in Kansas aboard a Greyhound bus in a shootout with police. Josephine County authorities said Emmanuel J. Clapp, 27, died Monday in a quick exchange of gunfire with a Kansas Highway Patrol officer near Salina, Kan., about 80 miles north of Wichita. Kansas authorities have not officially identified Clapp but Josephine County sheriff's deputies did and said he was the prime suspect in the disappearance last September of Matthew R. Fallon. They learned of Clapp's death on Tuesday as they dug up a grave in his back yard. Detective Sgt. Ron Goodpasture said the body is believed to be Fallon's. About 20 riders watched Monday as the passenger scuffled with two state troopers. Witnesses said the man pulled a gun and fired before he was shot. The bus had stopped in Salina Monday for a meal break. The troopers boarded the empty bus with a drug-sniffing dog to check for contraband when they found an empty holster in the passenger's bag. They confronted the man after passengers reboarded. Goodpasture said the case began in late September, when a friend reported Fallon missing. Detectives soon focused on Clapp and his wife, Brandy. Fallon had lived with the Clapps. Fallon's car, a 1981 Chrysler, was found on the property. Clapp fled the area Sunday. "His wife told us that he had contemplated suicide and wouldn't be taken alive by the police," Goodpasture said. On Monday Brandy Clapp told deputies what happened to Fallon, Goodpasture said. She said the trio had been drinking beer one afternoon at the Clapp house in early September. After the beer ran low, Brandy Clapp said she went to buy more. When she came home, her husband said he had shot the 38-year-old Fallon in the head. The body was in the tub, covered by a tarp. "They left it there for a couple days," Goodpasture said, "then moved it out to the garage for a couple days while they dug a hole." Brandy Clapp said her husband apparently feared Fallon was planning to go to the authorities about Clapp's marijuana dealing. Deputies found the body Tuesday, buried in the back yard. At about the same time, authorities in Kansas reported the Greyhound shooting. Clapp had false ID, which hampered a quick notification, Goodpasture said. Mail Tribune Copyright �  The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA