(NewsNation) — Police earlier this week identified a suspect in the double murder of Utah newlyweds at a popular campsite near Moab, Utah.
But Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, who is also investigating the killing of Crystal Turner and Kylen Schulte, said on NewsNation’s “Prime” that police picked the wrong person.
The Grand County Sheriff’s Office identified their suspect as Adam Pinkusiewicz, who used to work at a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant with Turner.
Pinkusiewicz was identified as one of numerous “persons of interest” at the time of the murder. He allegedly admitted to other people that he killed two women in Utah — before leaving the state and later dying by suicide, police said.
Chapman said he and his team interviewed at least 100 people, with eight or nine people pointing to one particular person.
“It’s not Adam,” Chapman said.
Turner and Schulte, before their death, had called a friend complaining about a “creepy” man bothering them at the campsite, NewsNation local affiliate ABC4 in Utah reported.
Chapman argued that had the women seen Pinkusiewicz, they would have said on the phone that it was him.
“The girls saw a strange weirdo,” Chapman said. “They knew who Adam was. We did other interviews today. People that knew Adam, they said he’s not like that.”
As for his suspect’s motivation, Chapman said Turner and Schulte’s murder was a hate crime.
“Our suspect has absolutely got a record of hating people like that,” Chapman said.
Turner’s cousin claimed Pinkusiewicz, the sheriff’s suspect, was also homophobic, however, and that he and Turner had gotten into a skirmish at work, according to ABC4.
On Friday, Grand County Sheriff Steven White maintained that Pinkusiewicz is their subject, and that they need to wrap up the case before calling him the killer.
“If Dog has other information, I wish he would bring it to us so we can see if it’s people we’ve already talked to about it,” White told ABC4. “This could be a situation that we’ve already talked to these people, but we don’t know about it if he doesn’t bring it forward to us.”
Chapman said on “Prime” that he will be giving all his team’s information to the FBI and the Sheriff’s Office. “We’ll see what happens from there,” he said.