Feds Catch Teen Fugitives 300 Miles From Grandma's Murder

Four days. That's how long Uriah Urick and Tara King were on the run after Tammy King, Tara's 61-year-old grandmother, was found shot dead in her Bacliff home. Four days of driving 300 miles south, heading straight for the Mexican border.

They didn't make it.

Today in a Galveston County courtroom, Special Agent John Anthony Miller of the Texas Department of Public Safety took the stand to describe how a federal task force hunted down two teenagers across the state of Texas. Miller is a 22-year law enforcement veteran who has spent the last 12 years on the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force, a multi-agency unit that brings together deputies from the Webb County DA's Office, Laredo PD, Webb County Sheriff's Office, the Marshals Service, DPS, Border Patrol, and Customs.

When word came that two teens suspected in a Galveston County homicide were heading to Laredo, that entire machine activated.

The Manhunt

Miller explained how the search began on Saturday, February 8th, 2025. The task force started hitting hotels and motels in Laredo, looking for two Caucasian teenagers who would "stand out quite a bit" in the predominantly Hispanic border town.

Saturday night came up empty. But Sunday morning, they got their break.

Clerks at Motel 6 confirmed the two individuals had been there but had already checked out. The motel provided a surveillance image, timestamped 11:20 AM on February 9th:

Hours later, one of the lieutenants spotted two individuals matching their description outside a Dollar General in an open area. The task force moved in as a team. They positively identified both teens and took them into custody.

What They Were Carrying

This is where it gets interesting. When the task force searched the teens, here's what they found:

Two .22 caliber firearms: A Kel-Tec Sub 2000 pistol and a Victory .22 pistol. Both were in a backpack, along with multiple knives and ammunition.

Drug paraphernalia: A crack pipe (for smoking methamphetamine or other substances) and a marijuana grinder. A clear plastic baggie believed to contain methamphetamine and a container with marijuana were also seized.

Three cell phones.

Several hundred dollars in cash, mostly in $100 bills.

But here's the detail that should make you pause:

Where did that gun go?

The Missing Piece

Tammy King was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. We know from case background that authorities believe Travis Hodge, the drug dealer who allegedly drove the teens to Laredo, may have possessed the murder weapon. Hodge was arrested weeks later with stolen firearms in his possession.

So when Agent Miller testified that these teens had ammunition for a 9mm but no 9mm gun, the question hangs in the air: Is that the murder weapon? Did they give it to Hodge along the way?

The prosecution is building a case piece by piece. Flight equals consciousness of guilt. Possession of firearms allegedly stolen from the victim's home equals connection to the robbery element of capital murder. Drugs on their person equals consistency with the meth-fueled murder theory. Cash in $100 bills equals the theft that elevates this from murder to capital murder.

The defense asked no questions of Agent Miller.

▶️ WATCH THE FULL TESTIMONY Feds Catch Teen Lovers 300 Miles From Grandma's Murder

What's At Stake

Both Uriah Urick, 18, and Tara King, 17, are charged with capital murder. Tara is accused of killing her own grandmother. If convicted, Urick faces life without parole. Tara, because she was 17 at the time, faces life in prison with eventual parole eligibility.

Both defendants are presumed innocent until the State of Texas proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt. That's not a technicality. That's the constitutional guarantee that separates us from systems that convict first and ask questions later.

But today's testimony showed something simple and powerful: they ran. They ran 300 miles. They carried guns. They carried drugs. They carried cash. And they were heading for the border.

What does that tell you?