By KIRBY ROSS
Phillips County Review
With a killer on the loose and two people discovered murdered in a rural home near the hamlet of Penokee last Thursday afternoon, an all-points-bulletin for Efren Mascarenas Jr. , 29, quickly went out in Graham County and the surrounding area. During the course of that search the focus soon zeroed in on northeast Graham County, southwest Phillips County, and Logan.
Mascarenas, who had been in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections from 2011 through 2017, had previously had a number of run-ins with the law including three aggravated battery convictions that sent him to jail, and over 30 citations for disciplinary infractions while behind bars. Reported to be armed and dangerous, law enforcement was advised to approach him with extreme caution.
The murders of his father, Efren “Lloyd” Mascarenas Sr., 52, and step-sister, Christin Cantrell, 28, were called in to the Graham County Sheriff’s Department around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
After the discovery of the bodies, Mascarenas Jr. soon became a suspect, resulting in Graham County Sheriff Cole Presley issuing a warning to rural residents to shelter in place and to lock their doors until further notice.
On the lookout for a blue Dodge Charger belonging to one of the victims that he was reported to have escaped in, before long the sheriff’s departments in Phillips, Rooks, and Norton counties became involved, along with the Hill City Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas Highway Patrol.
As the manhunt escalated, a Charger that had rolled on a county road in far northeast Graham County was found a stone’s throw from the Norton/Phillips/Graham county line intersect.
During this time, information had also developed that Mascarenas might have a relative residing in Logan, causing concern he might be heading there and resulting in a heavy law enforcement presence descending upon the town and on towards the southwest where the vehicle had been located.
Logan, an extremely tight-knit community, became somewhat of an armed camp as local residents and area farmers formed an ad hoc protective force.
As the search continued schools were locked down in Graham County.
With the search focusing on the area surrounding the wrecked vehicle, the suspect was eventually found dead in a nearby field, with a gunshot wound to the head that authorities say appears to be self-inflicted.
The KBI reports that the case continues to remain under investigation.