Murder Suspect Surrenders

Wednesday, July 25th 2007, 7:11 am

By: News On 6

LAWTON, Okla. (AP) _ Double-murder suspect Joshua Elijah Muller, the focus of a manhunt since Sunday, surrendered Wednesday to authorities who have been searching for him in a wooded area east of Lawton, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.

Muller turned himself in after eluding searchers, dogs and aerial surveillance teams that have been looking for him in a square-mile area for two days, Highway Patrol Trooper Kera Philippi said.

``He did not offer any resistance,'' she said. ``I think he was just ready to get out of there. It's been hot and he's been out here without food and water.''

Muller, who came out of the woods shirtless, was covered with cuts, scratches and insect bites, Philippi said. He was taken to a hospital for examination.

He did not have a weapon when he turned himself in, but he was believed to have had a rifle when he went into the woods. Authorities planned to scan the area with a metal detector to see if he left the firearm behind.

Muller, 33, was spotted by a trooper and a sheriff's deputy in the area Monday morning, triggering the two-day search.

He is accused of fatally shooting a boy and a girl and critically wounding another girl outside a Tulsa convenience store over the weekend.

Muller was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Derriko Ross, 16, and Leah Harris-Fuqua, 12.

About 100 law enforcement officers had been searching for the man.

Comanche County authorities surrounded a home east of Lawton on Monday where they believed Muller was staying, but he managed to escape before authorities raided the house.

The triple shooting took place early Sunday morning in the parking lot of a north Tulsa convenience store.

Ross and Harris-Fuqua were pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 3 a.m., said Tulsa police Sgt. Stephanie Jackson.

Another 12-year-old girl _ Sheridan Rand _ was taken in critical condition to a Tulsa hospital, police said.

All three victims were sitting in a sport utility vehicle when they were shot, police said.

Tulsa Cpl. Gene Watkins said the shootings may have escalated from an argument that occurred earlier. Watkins said Muller's girlfriend was with the victims when she apparently accused them of stealing her wallet.

A Leah Fuqua Memorial Fund has been set up at the Oklahoma Members First Federal Credit Union. Contact Isabel Villalpando in member services at 918-663-2050. The address is 10832 E. 31st Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74146.

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