On September 7, 1986, 35-year-old Robert May, a divorced construction worker, left his Phoenix home to search for work in Houston, Texas. His car was found abandoned near a school in Bowie, Arizona, on September 8, and two days later, May was found outside of Bowie, in the desert, shot twice in the face. His I.D. cards and personal affects were soon discovered by a motel maid, discarded in a room that had been rented to one "B.R. Mills." On September 12, the partly-frozen corpse of Steven Myllo, a 38-year-old traveling salesman from New Mexico, was found outside of Castle Rock, Colorado. Last seen alive on September 10, Myllo had been shot at close range, and his van was missing. Some days later, it was found in Overland, Missouri -- a St. Louis suburb -- where it had been stripped and burned on private property. The owner of the land was closely questioned, and he finally admitted to participating in the van's destruction. It had been an act of friendship, he declared, performed on the behalf of Tony Bropst, a pal from Arizona. Homicide investigators picked Bropst up in Phoenix, and the 33-year-old ex-convict soon confessed to killing May and Myllo. On March 12, 1987, Bropst pled guilty to May's murder in Arizona, receiving a 40-year prison term, with a minimum of 25 years to be served before parole. Three weeks later, he pled guilty to Myllo's slaying in Douglas County, Colorado, accepting a consecutive sentence of 40 years to life. Despite his willingness to talk about the crimes, Bropst showed no inclination toward captivity. Returning from his speedy trial in Castle Rock, he told a jailer, "There's going to be plenty of shooting if I ever get out of here." On April 5, Bropst joined two cellmates in escaping from the Douglas County jail, but he was recaptured in Castle Rock the next day, returned to Arizona under heavy guard to serve his time.