Arizona's Largest Manhunt Comes To End -- `Rambo' Fugitive Captured After 7 Weeks On Run

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - A brazen escaped convict who stole cars, took hostages at gunpoint and tormented tourists as he led police on a seven-week chase across the wilderness near Grand Canyon National Park, was captured early yesterday.

Danny Ray Horning, 33, who was serving four life terms for a bank robbery last year and is suspected in a dismemberment-slaying in Stockton, Calif., was tracked down by police bloodhounds and cornered under a backyard gazebo at a resort near Sedona shortly after 2 a.m.

Horning, nicknamed "Rambo" by police for his ability to confound his searchers with expert survival skills, surrendered without incident, ending the largest manhunt in Arizona history.

RUEFUL TO THE END

Although Horning appeared tired and filthy, he was rueful to the end. He made wisecracks to police about the quality of the cars he stole, grinned at news cameras and said he wished the chase had not ended.

"Can I have 24 hours on the streets to come up with $2 million?" Horning asked after Superior Court Judge H. Jeffrey Coker set the amount as bond.

When the judge read the list of charges, Horning said, "Could you repeat all that? I might have missed one of your dotted i's or crossed t's."

Horning was to be arraigned today on charges including four counts of kidnapping, two of armed robbery and three each of attempted murder and attempted kidnapping.

After his court appearance, he paused to talk to reporters.

"I've never kidnapped in my life until recently," Horning said. "All I was trying to do was to get away from the cops."

Since his escape from an Arizona prison on May 12, Horning had become a sort of local folk hero because of his ability to disappear into the forest.

But law-enforcement officers said yesterday that "he's no Robin Hood."

"I've been in law enforcement for 30 years, and I've seen a lot of things," said Yavapai County Sheriff Buck Buchanan, who witnessed Horning's capture. "This is not a nice fellow.

"I had a great personal fear that there would be a murder or an officer would be shot before it was all over with. We were lucky."

Horning surfaced Saturday, allegedly taking two British women hostage at the Grand Canyon and foiling roadblocks and the surveillance of more than 400 law-enforcement officers from more than a dozen different agencies.

He left the women unhurt but tied to a tree near Red Lake, about 45 miles south of the canyon. He then attracted the attention of a state police officer by speeding on an interstate highway.

Authorities said Horning fired one shot at police during the chase and then pulled off Interstate Highway 17 south of Flagstaff, dumped the car and took to the woods and the canyons above Sedona, located about 100 miles north of Phoenix.

As night fell, law-enforcement officials feared that they again had lost Horning.

But shortly before 10 p.m., authorities received a phone call from a homeowner who said there was an intruder drinking from a hose in his backyard. Officers went to the scene with bloodhounds.

Horning, who was armed with a fully loaded revolver, was found "burrowed" under the gazebo. He was taken to a jail in Flagstaff in Coconino County, where most of the search had taken place.

CONFUSING SEARCHERS

After he escaped from the state prison at Florence, located about 50 miles southeast of Phoenix, he used techniques he had learned during 11 months of Army reconnaissance work. He walked in circles and figure-eights to confuse the bloodhounds and walked during the day to make sure he did not leave tracks. He left behind notes taunting police.

Horning said at an impromptu press conference yesterday before being led back to jail that he never intended to hurt the park rangers, adding that he's a good shot and would not have missed.

Reveling in the attention, he added that he was amazed at how easy it was to escape from prison and hinted that he might try it again.

-- Material from Associated Press is included in this report.