It had been a long night for Stephen and his wife, driving all the way into Yakima from Montana. Detectives say for whatever reason they decided to stop about 3:30 a.m. and pick up a hitchhiker near a rest area on Highway 82. He had no idea who the man was.

The car heads east on I-82. All three of them are in the vehicle now. Stephen, of course, is sitting in the driver's seat. His wife, Sheryl is in the passenger seat in front, the hitchhiker is in the back. This is where detectives say things get fuzzy. Stephen says he went about 3 miles when the hitchhiker pulled his gun out to rob them. Stephen reaches back to struggle with him as he tries to pull the car over to the side of the road. Shots are fired.

Now remember, the suspect is sitting in the back seat. The shots have been fired so he makes a break for it somewhere between East Selah and Rest Haven Road. There's a river on the right, steep hillside on the left. " I don't think he had any impression which direction that person went," said Stew Graham with the Yakima Sheriff's Office.

Stephen is now driving with a gunshot wound to his right hand, his wife shot in the head. He has no cell phone so he can't call for help. He wants to get to the nearest hospital, but because he's not from here, he has no idea where that is. He's heading down first street now and gets all the way to Union Gap before he's able to flag down a motorist to give him directions. But as he headed down first street he passed the city sign that would have pointed him towards the hospital. It's clearly visible, but he kept going. Graham said, " This is a fairly traumatic event. I'm sure fatigue played some role in that."

The other driver offers to show Stephen the way to the ER, and dialed 9-1-1. Cops pulled both vehicles over on First Street and Walnut. An ambulance was called and they took Sheryl to Regional Hospital, just ten blocks down Walnut. Eleven hours later, Sheryl is dead. The hitchhiker is gone. And Stephen is not a suspect.

At this point, detectives have no leads on the suspect. They still have the couple's car and will continue to process it for evidence and clues