Arizona fugitive who faked his own death to escape police caught in Southern Indiana

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A man wanted for child sex crimes was arrested in Sellersburg after trying to convince police in Arizona that he had died.

”This one is unique,” Clark County assistant police chief Mark Grube said. “It’s not often you hear someone trying to fake a death to avoid a warrant. It’s something kind of new to us, but it obviously didn’t work out for the guy.”

Christen Allen Wright was wanted on charges of sexual misconduct with a minor, molestation of a child, and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

To avoid capture, he came up with a plan to try and fool Arizona law enforcement.

“They received information that he had faked his death,” Grube said.

Wright told an accomplice to call his family and tell them he had died, and that they need to come to the hospital to pick up his things.

“When his family showed up to get his belongings, they were met by somebody in the parking lot in scrubs, and they passed his belongings on,” Grube said.

Investigators weren’t fooled.

Wright made his way to his wife’s father-in-law’s house in Sellersburg.

In front of the house, there were two cars with what appeared to be luggage on the roof. The license plates are missing, but one neighbor told WAVE News that both cars had Arizona plates.

“He had told his wife that the charges against him had been dropped, and they were going to come here and start a new life,” Grube said.

He wasn’t there for long, because within a couple of days, SWAT was at the door.

He was arrested without incident.

A neighbor said they didn’t know the police were even there until he heard someone yell for Wright to come out.

“I think the guy thought maybe he was flying under the radar, so to speak, and our guys snatched him up pretty quickly,” Grube said.

A neighbor told WAVE News the owners of the house said they were expecting visitors. Grube said they had no idea about anything that was going on, and they weren’t arrested.

Wright will be held in the Clark County Jail until he’s sent back to Arizona.

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