2021-07-09 07:00:00
After a four-month manhunt, U.S. Marshals on Friday caught up with Preston Higgs, who has been wanted since early March when his girlfriend, well-loved New Harmony High School chemistry teacher Liz Quackenbush, was found dead after being stabbed multiple times with an ax in the house they shared.
Preston Higgs, via NOPD▲
Authorities found Higgs on a Greyhound bus in Lake County, Indiana, where he was jailed. The NOPD plans to extradite the 36-year-old and book him with second-degree murder.
Quackenbush’s mother, Diane Holland, said his arrest was welcome news.
“I’m relieved that he’s not out there to harm anyone else. And I’m glad that he will face consequences for his actions,” Holland said. “But I’m saddened, because it’s two lives tragically ruined, one by death and one by prison.”
The extensive search was prolonged by assistance Higgs received from his immediate family and friends, who financially supported him and coordinated his movements while he was at large, said Brian Fair, a senior inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service in New Orleans. Those associates could be charged with harboring and abetting a fugitive and making false statements to authorities, he said.
On March 3, police found Quackenbush, 39, dead in the couple’s house in the 1200 block of Desire Street and obtained a warrant to arrest Higgs.
Eleven days later, Higgs’ mobile phone was found in the back of a pickup truck in southern Iowa.
Authorities believe that at some point, Higgs passed through Rochester, Minnesota, where both he and Quackenbush grew up. Quackenbush moved to New Orleans in 2019, and Higgs joined her last year.
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In May, Higgs’ Chevrolet Impala was found in Chicago and impounded. After that, the trail went cold, Fair said.
Then last weekend, Fair said, Higgs showed up at a funeral before attending another gathering in Bolivar, Tennessee, where he has a large extended family. His appearances prompted a tip to Crimestoppers that put marshals back on his trail.
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On Wednesday, a cousin drove Higgs from Bolivar to Alabama, where marshals missed him by only an hour, Fair said. Tipsters said he was headed next to Tacoma, Wash., where he had family ready to take him in. Marshals there were put on alert.
At some point on Thursday, it appears Higgs got on a Greyhound bus, Fair said. He was arrested Friday in Lake County, about an hour southeast of Chicago.
Higgs told marshals that he was Carlton Williams, the name on a falsified Texas state ID he carried, Fair said. He had grown a full beard, in stark contrast to the wanted poster issued in March, which showed him clean-shaven.
Federal marshals in Louisiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama and Indiana assisted the NOPD with the search.
New Harmony Principal Sunny Dawn Summers said Friday there is a great sense of relief among staff and students that Higgs has been caught.
She said Quackenbush was “an amazing educator” who pioneered the school’s Outdoor Adventures curriculum, which built math and science skills through plantings, gardening and weekly field trips that included kayaking and environmental service-learning projects.
“Kids loved Liz from the very beginning,” said Summers. “She was outspoken and funny. She wore big crazy earrings and clothing that showed off her collection of tattoos. The kids were always so impressed about how she was unapologetically herself. They looked up to her. And from parents, I heard the same sentiment.”
Holland, Quackenbush’s mother, said she remains devastated by her daughter’s killing.
“Right now, I’m not ready to forgive him yet. I would like to. I’m not ready yet,” she said. “But maybe I can in the future. It’s too soon, too raw.”
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