DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah -- A man is on the run and his family is pleading for him to come home after two people were kidnapped and a third person was found dead in Duchesne County.
The Main family is now in mourning.
Cousins Monica Main Vreeken and Lacey Peterson hugged each other as they cried Saturday afternoon in desperation and pain while they made an emotional plea to James Main Jr.
“We love you Jimmy,” Peterson said, in tears. “Come home so we can get you the help that you need.”
Main-Vreeken had a similar message.
“I love you," she said. "I am not mad, and I just need you to call me."
She said Main Jr.’s father, James Main Sr., was found shot to death in his home in western Duchesne County.
While the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office has not identified the victim, they said they believe Main Jr. is connected to the death of the 56-year-old. In a press release on Saturday, the sheriff’s office said two people reported Main Jr. kidnapped them Friday evening from their house north of Roosevelt.
The two stated he took them to a home in Roosevelt, where they struggled with a third person before Main Jr. fired a shot at them. The sheriff’s office said Main Jr. then took off in a car belonging to the victims, which was later found ditched in northern Duchesne County.
“My brother is a paranoid bipolar schizophrenic,” Main Vreeken explained. “What he did was an awful thing, but he is not himself right now.”
She said the brother she knows is caring, and loves animals and her children.
“He is not a bad person,” Main Vreeken said. “He is my big brother, and I love him.”
In the past week, Main Vreeken said she’s tried to get Main Jr. help, and she said she took him to the hospital on two separate occasions.
“For suicidal tendencies, and threatening to hurt others," she said. "Both times we were sent away with little or no help."
Main Vreeken also said police were called several times in the past week, but still Main Jr. didn’t get the assistance he needed. She believes they bear some responsibility for what happened.
“This message is really important, because the medical facilities and officers need to change the way that they handle mentally ill individuals,” she urged.
In this case, what’s done is done now. Her family is left grieving the loss of James Main Sr. as they hold out hope that James Main Jr. will safely turn himself in.
“We know you made a bad mistake,” Peterson said. “We just want you to come home.”
Police said Main Jr. may be driving a white, 2000 Ford F-250 extended cab truck with a winch hoist in the back, with license plate A020NK.
Anyone who has information on Main Jr.’s whereabouts or thinks they spotted him or the truck should call Central Dispatch at 435-722-4558.
A fundraising page has been set up to cover funeral expenses for James Main Sr.
