Fugitives fled by bus, limo and cab

As law enforcement conducted a statewide manhunt, the suspect in the shooting death of Millard County sheriff's Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox escaped to Beaver in a bus, limo and taxi, according to police and the cab driver.

Roberto Miramontes Roman, 37, drove to Salt Lake City after the early-morning shooting near Delta on Jan. 5, police said.

SWAT teams tracked his car to Salt Lake City and surrounded the house where he was believed to be hiding, but Roman was actually at a neighboring house, Salt Lake City police later confirmed. Officers unintentionally evacuated Roman and an alleged accomplice, Ruben Chavez-Reyes, as they emptied the neighborhood in the search.

Police found the pair the next morning, asleep in a shed in Beaver County. How they made it there has not previously been public knowledge. Roman faces aggravated murder charges, while Reyes was charged with helping him escape.

This week, cab driver Joseph Santos, owner of Affordable Cab and American Limousine, told The Salt Lake Tribune that he picked the pair up at a 7-Eleven in Orem. They had taken a Utah Transit Authority bus from Salt Lake City, Utah County sheriff's Lt. Mike Brower confirmed.

"We have interviewed a taxi driver who did take them from Provo down to Beaver," Brower said.

Roman and Chavez-Reyes initially called Affordable Cab about 5:30 p.m., Santos said. Santos happened to be driving a Lincoln Town Car limousine for his limo service and picked them up in it.

"They were kind of stressed out a little," Santos said. They didn't seem to be familiar with the area, and initially asked to be dropped off at one mobile home, then changed their minds. He left them at a different mobile home near the Provo Cemetery.

About a hour later, they called again and asked to be picked up at the Provo Towne Center mall. Now driving a taxi cab, Santos picked them up and took them to Interstate 15. They asked him to drive slowly by Interstate exits, looking for one that they recognized.

"These people would qualify as the most disoriented people I ever took in my life," he said.

They asked about how much it would be to go to Beaver. Near the 800 North exit, Santos agreed to take them for $300. They paid in cash up front.

About 9 p.m., he dropped them off near a mobile home park in Beaver, he said. They seemed familiar with the area, and greeted people as they got out of the cab, said Santos.

During the ride, he tried to chat and joke with them, but didn't get any information about who they were or where they were going.

"We don't ask," he said. The two were quiet, he said, though Reyes talked more than Roman.

He didn't think much more of the ride until he was contacted by a Utah County Sheriff's Office detective about two weeks later.

"I do know they were very nice to me, very polite, very friendly ... They didn't seem to me like the kind of people who would kill someone," he said. "That was one of the most strange things in my life."

Reader's note: This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of 'Brower."