DURANT, OK - The Fannin County Sheriff’s Office says they’ve recovered the vehicle possibly driven by 52-year-old Thomas Taunton on the day he allegedly killed three family members.
The 2007 Dodge Caravan belonging to the family of Harold Harpst was discovered abandoned on the property of a Durant motel. A release by the Sheriff’s Office indicates they believe the van had been parked there for several weeks.
Taunton remains in custody on three counts of murder for the alleged shooting deaths of the 73-year-old Harpst, his 79-year-old wife Sue, and their 48-year-old daughter Regina Taunton. The bodies of the Leonard family were found behind a barn off Highway 11 in late-January, nearly a week after they had gone missing.
Taunton was arrested in Louisiana and has since been returned to Texas.