RICHFIELD, N.Y. — A 20-year-old soldier believed to be armed and despondent remains on the run since he escaped from military custody and led police on a multi-county car chase in central New York, police said Friday.
State Trooper Jack Keller said there had been no confirmed sightings of Russell C. Marcum as of Friday afternoon. He said police using dogs and helicopters had broadened the territory they were searching for the camouflage-clad soldier from West Virginia, who they think has a handgun and might be suicidal.
Marcum’s parents had just bailed him out of a Jefferson County jail where he was held on a burglary charge when he assaulted a soldier escorting him back to Fort Drum on Thursday night and escaped in his parents’ SUV, Keller said. A chase through Madison, Oneida and Otsego counties ended when police damaged the car tires with a spike strip. Marcum then ran into woods near Richfield Springs, south of Utica.
Keller said the soldier who was assaulted was not seriously hurt.
Although initial reports said Marcum might be wearing a bullet-proof vest, Keller said the vest and cell phone were found in the car.
He said the search for Marcum was being run out of a command post in Herkimer County’s West Winfield and expanded south across Route 20 into Otsego County on Friday afternoon. He said two helicopters were in the air and searchers included state forest rangers and members of the state police special weapons team.
Authorities warned that Marcum should be considered dangerous and that he had reportedly said he would force police to shoot him to end his life.
The Watertown Daily Times reports that Marcum was arrested Monday on a charge of third-degree burglary after being accused of stealing a $700 plasma TV from a storage unit.
Marcum is a private, first class from Morgantown, W. Va., who joined the Army in August 2010 and was deployed with the 10th Mountain Division to Afghanistan this year from January to March, according to officials at Fort Drum.