Fugitive Steals Crystal Gayle's Tour Bus

[BusCrazyinFL]

Check it out on CNN right now (Nancy Grace show).

[BusCrazyTom]

He's gonna be a jailbird BusNut for sure....

BusCrazyTom

[captain ron]

He'll get more use out of it than she does ........Just kidding.... I met her driver last year at Christmas .... She loves her bus, he's from Florida.

[captain ron]

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  —  A fugitive who apparently fled to Tennessee to see his ailing mother was being sought Friday in Florida in the theft of a tour bus owned by country singer Crystal Gayle.

A man believed to be Christopher Daniel Gay was seen Thursday with the bus at a racetrack in Lakeland, Fla., telling the manager he was there to pick up NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, WTVF-TV of Nashville reported.

Police in Nashville said USA International Speedway officials became suspicious because the man's unkempt appearance didn't fit with the tour bus.

"He stated that he was leaving the racetrack to go to McDonald's to get a hamburger, and he has yet to be seen," Capt. Rich Foley said.

Speedway officials contacted police, who confirmed that the bus belonged to the country singer and had been stolen from a Nashville garage.

Gay, who has a history of theft involving trucks and other heavy equipment, has eluded capture since he escaped Sunday from a prisoner transport van during a bathroom break in Hardeeville, S.C., as he was being taken from Texas to face charges in Georgia.

(Story continues below)

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He stole a pickup truck in South Carolina and made his way more than 300 miles northwest to Manchester, Tenn., where he stole a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer filled with merchandise, police said.

Police speculate that he was trying to get back Tennessee because his mother, who is dying of cancer, lives about 25 miles northwest of Nashville, near Pleasant View.

Police spotted Gay in the Wal-Mart truck Tuesday and gave chase. He drove the truck into a field about 50 yards from his mother's house and abandoned it, fleeing into the woods, police said.

He wasn't reported seen again until Thursday in Florida.

Gay was being transported from Georgetown, Texas, to Pell City, Ala., on escape and felony charges when he got away from the prisoner van, which was carrying 10 other prisoners to other locations in the Southeast.

[BusCrazyinFL]

Apparently this guy wound up (with the country legend's tour bus)  at the USA Race Track in Lakeland, FL where Ace (one of our fellow bus nuts) is working this weekend. Talk about a small world!  But now he's on the run again, and no one knows for sure exactly where he is. I'm sure Ace will fill us in on more details.

[Dallas]

And wasn't it Ace that made funny with the people at the track and told them he stole his bus?

At least no one is EVER gonna steal my bus. It's just too darned ug - a - Lee!

[pete81eaglefanasty]

  Maybe he is hidden in Ace's bus.

              Pete & Jean
               fantasy

[gumpy]

Yeah, and Ace said something about seeing Tony Stewart the other day.

Hmmmm..... I think that kettle corn thing is a coverup...   

dialing the authorities now.... 

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

This saga is too funny!

[gumpy]

Does anyone know if they caught Ace yet?

[bubbaqgal]

Should be easy enough to find.....just look for a guy who's brown eyes turned blue.

[Chariotdriver]

  "Christopher Daniel Gay"
  "Crystal ----------------Gayle"
Has anyone seen them BOTH in the same room at the same time? hhhmmmm
 
(I think that we're supposed to be kin to her and Lorreta since I'm a Webb and that is their maiden name.)

[plyonsMC9]

Looks like they caught the guy:

Police arrest escapee near NASCAR track
Fugitive allegedly stole big-rig, country star's bus after fleeing to visit mom

Updated: 12:08 a.m. CT Jan 28, 2007

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - An escaped prisoner who evaded a manhunt across the Southeast by stealing three vehicles, including singer Crystal Gayle's tour bus, has been arrested, authorities said.

Christopher Daniel Gay, 32, was arrested around 11 p.m. Friday near the Daytona International Speedway, said Lt. Patrick Myers, spokesman for Daytona Beach Police.

Gay escaped from a prisoner transport van on Jan. 21 Sunday near Hardeeville, S.C., police said. Authorities have said his motive for fleeing was to see his terminally ill mother; it was unclear whether he ever made it there.

Full Story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16826147/

[Green-Hornet]

The most surprising thing about that story is that Crystal Gayle is touring!

[captain ron]

That was the topic of one of my jokes in my show last night. How did she even notice the bus was stolen?