Fugitive airman found with strange garb

Posted: Apr 20, 2012 10:38 PM by Jacqui Heinrich
Updated: Apr 21, 2012 7:56 AM

The search is over for an airman who escaped military personnel on Wednesday. Herbert Mullins is in custody after being captured today near the El Paso County and Teller County line.

Mullens was being taken to the Teller County Jail Wednesday when military personnel made a bathroom break at the Woodland Park McDonald's, at which point his guards "lost track of him", Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensminger told News 5. He spent two days on the run.

The Teller County Sheriff says deputies spotted Mullens this afternoon after receiving calls of a man in the area going door to door asking people to rent him a car.

Toni Wingenbach was one of the area residents Mullens approached; she says he appeared in her driveway riding a bright orange four-wheeler, wearing an animal pelt and a long knife on his belt. "He told me this crazy story about being lost in the mountains, and his brother is lost in the mountains... and it's been 2, 3, 4 days or whatever," Wingenbach said today. "I got to thinking something wasn't right."

Mullens was facing charges of DUI and posession of drug paraphernalia, but will now face additional charges related to the escape, including possible charges for stealing a four-wheeler. How he acquired the animal pelt and long knife remains unknown.