CONCORDIA, MO – A 23-year-old man sought in connection with the murder of his mother and stepfather in Arizona was shot and killed in Missouri after wounding a state trooper during a chaotic manhunt that unfolded across two states, authorities said.
Francis Alcantar Chavez was the primary suspect in the deaths of Cynthia Templeton, 53, and Troy Templeton, 62. The couple was discovered Sunday night in their Taylor, Arizona, home with fatal gunshot wounds. Their bodies were found by Cynthia Templeton’s former husband, who had arrived with two children, authorities said.
Law enforcement in Taylor quickly identified Chavez as the suspect and issued a nationwide alert for his arrest and his vehicle. Investigators believe he traveled nearly 1,000 miles from northern Arizona to Concordia, a rural town in western Missouri.
Police in Concordia located Chavez and attempted to detain him around 6 p.m. Tuesday, but he managed to evade capture. Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers tracked down Chavez’s motorcycle several hours later, and a confrontation ensued.
Chavez is accused of crashing his motorcycle into a trooper’s vehicle before fleeing on foot. During the pursuit, police say Chavez fired a weapon at the pursuing trooper, striking him in his protective vest. The trooper returned fire, striking and killing Chavez.
The trooper who was shot was taken to a local hospital for treatment and is expected to recover, according to officials. No other injuries were reported in the incident.
The deaths of Cynthia and Troy Templeton have deeply affected the Snowflake-Taylor area, where the couple was known for their service as members of the Arizona Rangers, a volunteer law enforcement support organization established in the early 1900s. The couple reportedly met and married while volunteering with the Rangers and had been wed just over a year.
State and local law enforcement said support is being offered to the Templetons’ family and the trooper’s colleagues as both communities try to process the tragedy and violence that ended with Chavez’s death.
Officials continue to investigate the precise motives behind the Arizona killings and Chavez’s flight across state lines. The sequence of events and the rapid response by law enforcement have drawn attention to the perils officers face when pursuing suspects in violent crimes.
As the investigation continues, police in both Arizona and Missouri urged the public to support the families impacted and to allow the process to proceed without speculation.