New Mexico authorities have shut down the active search for a couple of Missourians in the western part of the state and think they might have gotten a ride out of the area where they were stopped early yesterday as suspected kidnappers. A rugged high mesa area near the community of Prewitt–east of Gallup–was heavily searched all day yesterday and into last night for Elizabeth Denman and boyfriend Mark Cochran, .suspected of kidnapping her son from his father last weekend in Miller County.
Authorities are keeping an eye on the area but a police command post has been shut down and the extensive search has been ended. They now think Denman and Cochran got a ride out of the area from someone who did not know what was going on before authorities closed I-40 for about five hours yesterday to isolate the area where the pair was believed to be hiding.
The five year old boy, Devon Denman, was found unhurt in the car the couple abandoned after a 100-mile an hour police chase. His father, who won court custody of the boy last week, flew to New Mexico yesterday to bring him back to Missouri.
Elizabeth Denman has a drug conviction and Cochran is a convicted sex offender.