Blood trail leads to arrest of wanted felon

Jim Cornelius | Last updated Dec 05, 1995 12:0pm0

A wanted felon left a spray of blood on the ceiling of his motel room on the night of December 1, and it put the Sisters Police Department on his trail.

According to police reports, Sisters officers were called on the morning of Saturday, December 2, to investigate apparent bloodstains found on the ceiling and on pillowcases in a local motel room registered to Gary Robert Wharton of Springfield, Oregon.

Sisters police caught up to Wharton, 35, at Sisters Chevron later that morning and arrested him on multiple warrants out of the Lane County Circuit Court. According to police reports, the warrants were for possession of a controlled substance, Forgery I, Theft I and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Wharton was transported to Deschutes County jail. According to police, a subsequent search of Wharton's vehicle turned up a Taurus 9mm handgun, a vial containing a substance that appeared to be methamphetamine, syringes and a piece of clear plastic that had residue that also appeared to be methamphetamine.

Police reported that Wharton's vehicle was impounded and he was booked on additional charges of possession of a controlled substance and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to police, Wharton stated that he knew about the blood on the ceiling in the motel room. Police reported that Wharton said he injected methamphetamine in the room Friday night.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.