Escaped prison found slain in Mexico

SAN DIEGO - One of two prisoners who escaped from a transport van last month in San Diego County has been found dead in Mexico.

The body of John A. Doran, 26, was discovered on March 29 alongside a toll road south of the border city of Tijuana. He appeared to have been shot in the back of the head, the Sheriff's Department said Friday.

Since no identification was found on the body, authorities weren't able to determine his identity until his fingerprints were matched this week, department spokesman Lt. Ron VanRaaphorst said.

Doran's body was found four days after he and James K. Prestridge, 38, overpowered two private extradition guards who were transporting them from Nevada to prisons in other states. The guards had driven to San Diego to pick up other inmates.

Doran, of Warren County, Ind., was convicted of robbery in Nevada and had been en route to Colorado to face other charges.

Prestridge remains at large, possibly in Mexico.

Prestridge in 1989 pleaded guilty to murder in the slaying of a pizza parlor manager in northwest Nevada. Sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, he was being escorted to North Dakota as part of a prisoner exchange.