(CNN) A husband and wife accused of killing a 72-year-old man overpowered two security guards in Utah and tied them up in a van, giving the couple hours of head start on authorities trying to recapture them.

They were facing charges of arson, burglary and murder in the death of Frank Bligh, a Vietnam veteran who was killed in April in Tucson, Arizona.

The married couple faked a medical emergency or bathroom break, and the guards pulled over to the side of the road, according to the US Marshals Service.

"And once they got over to the side of the road, they were able to overpower them, bind them and threw them in the back of the van they were in," said David Gonzales, US Marshal for the district of Arizona.

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