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23-year old Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, 23, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday, May 17th in Kemmerer for his role in the kidnapping and killing of Utah Transit Authority worker Kay Porter Ricks near Kemmerer, Wyoming while on the run from police for a string of crimes that began in Utah. Harrison, along with his father, Flint Harrison, had been high on drugs for days in May, 2016 when they began their violent spree in Utah by kidnapping a mother and her daughters, who managed to escape without serious harm.

On the run in Utah, the two men encountered and kidnapped Ricks and commandeered his UTA truck. They drove to Wyoming and killed Ricks in the Kemmerer area, dumped his body and continued on in his stolen truck. After the murder, the men ultimately ended up in Pinedale where the father had a home. After an intensive manhunt that wrapped in Sublette County law enforcement, authorities ultimately caught both men on separate days in the Half Moon Lake area as first the father and finally the son walked out and surrendered to authorities.

Harrison’s father killed himself in a Utah jail last year.

DJ Harrison plead guilty to murder in April and acknowledged that he did not intervene to stop his father from cutting Kay Porter Ricks’ throat and hitting him several times over the head with a metal rod. In addition to the life sentence for the murder, DJ Harrison was sentenced last year to up to 30 years in prison for his crimes related to the kidnapping and assault of the Utah women.

Related Links Man given life sentence in death of train worker - Casper Star-Tribune, May 17, 2017 After the Successful Manhunt - By Terry Allen, Pinedale Online, May 22, 2016 (photos) Father turns self in, son is still at large in Sublette County - May 14, 2016 Sublette County assists with BOLO for Utah kidnapping suspects - May 11, 2016