Suspect in beauty queen kidnapping case tracked down by fugitive team

Robert Ergonis, 45, was wanted by police in connection with the 10-hour abduction and torture of a former Pima County beauty queen’s ex-boyfriend in December, according to police.

Ergonis was arrested after he barricaded himself in a Midtown house and told authorities he had explosives and firearms, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Two gunshots were heard inside the home during the standoff, which lasted about nine hours.

Investigators originally thought Ergonis was holding a woman captive; but later negotiations revealed the woman, 24-year-old Heather Cannon, might not have been held against her will, Robinson said.

Cannon left the home about 3 a.m. Friday and was taken into custody because she had four outstanding warrants — two felony and two misdemeanor — for drug charges, Robinson said.

Ergonis was apprehended after the SWAT team busted into the house, found him in a bathroom and forced him to surrender, Robinson said.

Several guns were found in the home but Robinson couldn’t confirm whether or not explosives were there because the investigation is ongoing.

“Our hostage negotiators were tenacious in their effort to keep the negotiations open and work toward a peaceful resolution with no injuries,” Robinson said.

Ergonis had outstanding warrants for kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated assault in connection with a Dec. 8 kidnapping, Robinson said.

Kumari Fulbright, 25, a UA law student who has since been suspended from school, and Larry Bruce Hammond, 40, have already been accused of kidnapping the 24-year-old man, binding him with plastic cable and duct tape and holding him captive in two homes, court documents say.

Fulbright ran in the Miss Arizona contest and was named Miss Pima County in 2005 and Miss Desert Sun in 2006.

Police obtained a warrant for Ergonis after the first two arrests, according to police. Detectives are still looking for one more man who may have been involved in the kidnapping, but that man has not been identified, Robinson said.

It’s not clear if Ergonis had been in the Tucson area for the past two months or if he left the city for a while, Robinson said.

Investigators with the Fugitive Investigative Strike Team, or FIST, tracked him to a neighborhood near South Park Avenue and East Broadway about 7:40 p.m. Thursday, Robinson said.

FIST is a multi-agency task force that includes U.S. Marshals, Pima Count Sheriff’s deputies, TPD officers and Pima County Adult Probation officers.

They learned that Ergonis might be at a residence in the 500 block of South Fremont, which had both a front house and guest house, Robinson said. A man in the guest house then identified Ergonis and said he’d been living in the front house with a woman, later identified as Cannon, for about a week.

Wrought-iron bars covered the doors and windows of the home, Robinson said. Authorities couldn’t see inside because sheets were draped inside the windows, but they were still able to make contact with Cannon and tell her they were looking for Ergonis.

At that point they heard a man yell out that Robert Ergonis had just left the residence, Robinson said. Authorities identified Cannon as a wanted fugitive when she peered through the sheets to talk with investigators face to face, Robinson said. Then about 9:10 p.m. members of the FIST task force heard a gun shot inside the home, so they backed off, secured the area and called in additional units, Robinson said.

SWAT officers were called to the scene and it was treated as a hostage situation because Ergonis claimed he was holding a gun to Cannon’s head, Robinson said.

The negotiations continued through the night until 4:45 a.m. when Ergonis cut them off, Robinson said. After hearing another gunshot inside the home at 5:30 a.m. SWAT officers shot teargas into the house, but Ergonis still didn’t come out, Robinson said.

At that point, the SWAT team decided to force their way into the home and Ergonis was found hiding in the bathroom.