Cabbie: Couple's Amway story didn't 'wash'
Driver didn't believe fugitives were Amway salespeople

Mike Wagers said he drove George and Jennifer Hyatte about 115 miles, from Erlanger, Kentucky, to Columbus, and dropped them off at a budget motel.

Authorities say the woman ambushed two prison guards Tuesday as they were leading her husband from a hearing in Tennessee, fatally shooting a guard before the couple sped away. (Full story)

In an interview with CBS "The Early Show," (audio only) Wagers said he didn't make the connection with the killing until he returned to Kentucky and called local police.

The fugitive couple

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A typical Amway couple

Wagers said he had doubts about the Hyattes' story because they "just didn't fit the type."  "First of all Quixtar replaced Amway six years ago, and no self respecting Quixtar distributor admits he has anything to do with Amway now."   "The next thing was George   Hyatte had a beard and everyone knows facial hair is taboo in the Quixtar business."  "She was also not wearing any makeup, which is uncharacteristic for someone who sells the fine Artistry line of cosmetics."  "They never even shot themselves with Amway 'sweet shot' breath spray, which all Amway distributors do habitually."

"Nor was he dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, or a red tie."  "Besides it was a Wednesday, and everybody knows Amway conventions are on the weekends."  "The hotel I dropped them off at was definitely one not frequented by Amway types."

"They didn't strike me as the Amway type because to be honest they weren't very pushy about getting me to go into business with them and I've dealt with them before so -- that was my only real suspicion," Wagers said.   "If they were really Amway-Quixtar people they would have told me all about their wonderful E-commerce business, and would have at least asked me for my phone number to invite me to a recruiting meeting".

"Another tip-off was since the ride was 115 miles and would last about two hours, I was surprised they did not ask me to pop in an Amway motivational tape in my cassette player for them".

"A female answered the phone," Ralston said. "And I said, 'Hey Jennifer.' She said, 'Yes,' and I knew it was her."

Ralston identified herself and told Jennifer Hyatte that the room was surrounded by U.S. Marshals and Columbus SWAT members.

"I said you need to get George, both of you need to exit the hotel room and follow the directions of the officers who will be to your immediate right," Ralston said.

George Hyatte didn't initially believe who was on the phone.

"He said, 'They wouldn't call, they'd kick the door in,"' Ralston said Jennifer Hyatte told her.

Motel guest Robin Penn, who was watching from her first-floor window across the parking lot, said Jennifer Hyatte was limping as she left the room with her hands up. George Hyatte then came out of the room with his shirt pulled over his head, walked backward toward the stairwell, got on his knees and was handcuffed.

"They really didn't show any emotion at all," Penn said.

Mountain Dew, Hawaiian Punch, no XS Energy Drink

Inside the couple's room, cans of Mountain Dew and Hawaiian Punch littered the night table, and bags of takeout food wrappers were on a desk. The bed covers sat in a pile, mostly on the floor, and one of the two mattresses was pushed halfway off the box spring.  Police noted if they had been Amway-Quixtar people, then they would have found empty XS energy drink cans, Double-X vitamin wrappers and Nutrilite diet bar wrappers, but none of the typical Amway-Quixtar product packaging was found. 

George Hyatte was taken to the Franklin County jail, said John Bolen, a supervisor for the U.S. Marshals Service in Columbus.

Jennifer Hyatte also was taken to the jail early Thursday after being treated for a bullet wound to the leg, police said. Police believe she was hit by return gunfire from one of the two guards escorting her husband Tuesday.

Earlier Wednesday, outside a motel in Erlanger, authorities had tracked down a van the couple was believed to have used. The couple was gone, but authorities knew then that they were getting close.

Blood had been found in the motel room, and an employee at a nearby restaurant told federal agents she had given directions that day to a couple she later recognized as the fugitives.

Ex-husband: Hyatte has custody of children

Jennifer Hyatte met her husband as a prison nurse and was fired last year for sneaking food to him. A few months later, she got permission from the warden to marry George Hyatte, a man with a long and violent criminal record.

Her ex-husband, Eli Gourdin, told the Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City that he last spoke with Jennifer Hyatte Monday when she told him how excited she was that George was going to be released.

"We don't know George, we can't judge George," Gourdin's current wife, Katie, told the paper for Thursday's editions. "You know, we've never met him. We only know what Jennifer's told us. She's very much in love with him."

Eli Gourdin said Jennifer Hyatte had custody of their three children, the oldest of which is 12 years old. The children have been staying with him for the summer, he said.