Crime spree prompts manhunt in Nebraska

PAXTON, Neb. - About 100 officers combed western Nebraska today for a man wanted in connection with the wounding of two officers in a weekend gunbattle and the killing of a farmer.

The object of the manhunt was Charles Lannis Moses Jr., 31, of Nocona, Texas. The search closed nearby schools and had police providing security at others.

Moses, described as a survivalist by authorities, is wanted in Nebraska on charges of attempted first-degree murder, using a firearm to commit a felony and resisting arrest. Texas authorities want him on charges of violating probation and possessing explosives.

Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns urged residents to be cautious. The State Patrol used a helicopter and two airplanes, and about 100 officers were searching for Moses.

The farmer, Robert Sedlacek, 48, was killed yesterday near Paxton, Keith County Attorney Deborah Gilg said.

Sedlacek had gone to a part of his property that includes an abandoned house and outbuildings, and was talking to his father-in-law on a cell phone, Gilg said.

The farmer told his father-in-law he noticed unusual tire tracks around the buildings, then expressed surprise at something. Suddenly, the phone was cut off. Sedlacek's body was found about an hour later.

A car found at Sedlacek's farm had been stolen from a farm near Dickens, where Moses' pickup truck, riddled with bullet holes, was found earlier.

Paxton is about 12 miles west of where the two police officers were shot Saturday night.

The Nebraska manhunt had started Saturday after a Lincoln County sheriff's deputy tried to arrest Moses on the Texas warrants. Moses pulled a handgun, which the deputy wrestled away. Moses fled in his truck on icy rural roads.

He stopped and exchanged shots with about two dozen officers who were chasing him, shooting State Trooper Jeff Crymble in the stomach and Lincoln County Sheriff's Deputy Stan McKnight in the hand. Moses was able to escape into the night because his pickup had no taillights.

Crymble was hospitalized in critical condition at a North Platte hospital; McKnight was in good condition at an Omaha hospital.

Moses has been in trouble with the law for the past year, accused of stealing from deer-hunting camps, said Gary Studebaker, Montague County Chief Deputy Sheriff, in Nocona, Texas.

"He's a survivalist; he goes for camping equipment and weapons," Studebaker said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time he always runs. He's good at it."