Chicken nuggets order led police to fugitive Facebook video murderer
Killer committed suicide as officers closed in on him
Facebook slaying suspect Steve Stephens was undone by a 20-piece Chicken McNuggets and an order of fries.
The man who police say shot a Cleveland retiree at random and posted video of the killing on Facebook pulled up to the drive-thru window of a McDonald’s restaurant outside Erie, Pennsylvania, and waited for his order.
It was late on Tuesday morning, almost lunchtime, and authorities were in the third day of an intensive manhunt for Stephens.
Now, more than 160km from the shooting, his time on the run was nearly up.
The attendant who took his money recognised the suspect and called the police. Stephens pulled up to the next window, where restaurant owner Thomas DuCharme Jnr and a supervisor tried stalling him by telling him his fries were delayed.
Stephens didn’t want to wait. He took his McNuggets and whipped out of the parking lot, nearly hitting Gail Wheeler, 54, a retail operations manager from Erie who was on her way home from the supermarket.
“Two seconds later, I hear these sirens, and they come whipping past me,” she said.