Ecuador no refuge for Burke County attempted-murder suspect
A 62-year-old man who fled to Ecuador after being charged with attempted first-degree murder has been extradited back to Burke County after at least two years on the lam.
Dean Allen Yancey of Connelly Springs vanished before his October 2015 trial on charges related to shots fired into his brother and sister-in-law’s home in 2013. Two rounds just missed the couple as they sat in their living room, the Burke County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
A Burke County grand jury indicted Yancey at the time on two counts each of attempted first-degree murder, discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, all felonies.
With help from the U.S. Marshal’s Service, sheriff’s investigators eventually learned Yancey was living 2,600 miles away in Ecuador. The country is in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south and the Pacific Ocean on the west.
Investigators have not disclosed how they learned Yancey was in Ecuador.
Yancey was in the Burke County Jail without bail on Thursday. He was on Burke County’s Most Wanted list for over a year.
Joe Marusak: 704-358-5067, @jmarusak
This story was originally published February 2, 2017 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Ecuador no refuge for Burke County attempted-murder suspect."