CASPER, Wyo. (AP)
A convicted murderer who was captured in Canada two weeks after escaping from a workrelease program here says his escape attempt was impulsive and stupid. Shannon Parazoo, who was just months from finishing a 20- to 30-year murder sentence, left a Casper work-release program and packed up his family into two cars and drove north on Feb. 9. A few hours outside of Casper, he began to have doubts. “I thought, you know what, this is really stupid,” he recalled almost a month later, in a phone interview with the Casper Star- Tribune from a Canadian jail. “I don’t really think I’m doing the right thing.” Parazoo, 43, and his stepson, Alonzo Durgin, another workrelease inmate, were tracked to north-central Montana and later captured after almost two weeks on the run outside a small town in British Columbia. They’re still in Canadian custody and face escape charges and the prospect of longer sentences. “It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Parazoo, who left with his wife, Rose, and two of her children. “I’ve totally ruined my future and (my wife’s). We just wanted to be a family.” He blamed the escape attempt on “an emotional meltdown on my part.” Parazoo had been working the night shift as a welder, making about $18 or $19 an hour. He would stop by Rose’s house after work, then return to the re-entry center for a few hours of sleep. Then he would check out at 9 a. m. to go to the house to spend time with Rose and the children. In the hours before they left town, Parazoo took his dog for a walk and paid a bill. By 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 it was nearly time to return to the re-entry center. Rose wasn’t happy and the couple started arguing, he said. When Parazoo asked Rose what she wanted him to do, she responded: “Let’s just go find a life.” They loaded up two vehicles and headed north. “I don’t think there was ever really a plan,” Rose said. “There was just driving.” The family slept at rest stops and cooked by campfires. “I had worked very hard to be allowed to re-enter Wyoming society ... and I had just thrown it all away,” Parazoo s
