LAGC
07-28-2011, 01:19 AM
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (Reuters) - Authorities on Wednesday captured a man in Colorado who escaped nearly 32 years ago from the Florida prison where he was serving a life sentence for murder.
Frederick Barrett, 60, slipped away from the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford during a nighttime power outage on August 17, 1979.
U.S. Marshals Service officers, dressed as U.S. Forest Service firefighters, arrested Barrett early on Wednesday at his cabin in Montrose County, Colorado. He had been living in the remote, mountainous area under the name Neil Meltzer, Florida officials said.
..
..
"It's really, really difficult to track somebody who's been out 30 years," Davenport told Reuters. "The trail was cold."
But using public records and databases, investigators found evidence Barrett had traveled to Hawaii, California, Tennessee and Maryland since his escape and eventually appeared to settle in Colorado.
In addition to escape charges in Florida, Barrett now faces drug and gun charges in Colorado after marshals found a marijuana grow house and multiple firearms in his home, officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/florida-murderer-caught-32-years-prison-escape-003059393.html
Wow, this is an incredible story. If he's really guilty of his crime, then he's a real piece of shit, killing a good samaritan who was kind enough to give him and his hitchhiking pal a lift.
But it sounds like since he escaped prison he kept to his own devices and survived for 32 years without any police contact, that's pretty impressive. Guess you'd really have to follow the law (such as avoiding any traffic tickets, or just not own a car at all) and try to survive somehow on the underground economy, hoping that your "grow" operation would never be discovered.
At 60-years-old now, I guess you have to ask: is he really a danger to anyone anymore? Seems like its kind of stupid to waste taxpayer dollars on all his upkeep and health care costs as he slowly deteriorates. Maybe they'll parole him after a few more years, if it turns up he wasn't involved in any more serious crime while he was out. Crazy.
Frederick Barrett, 60, slipped away from the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford during a nighttime power outage on August 17, 1979.
U.S. Marshals Service officers, dressed as U.S. Forest Service firefighters, arrested Barrett early on Wednesday at his cabin in Montrose County, Colorado. He had been living in the remote, mountainous area under the name Neil Meltzer, Florida officials said.
..
..
"It's really, really difficult to track somebody who's been out 30 years," Davenport told Reuters. "The trail was cold."
But using public records and databases, investigators found evidence Barrett had traveled to Hawaii, California, Tennessee and Maryland since his escape and eventually appeared to settle in Colorado.
In addition to escape charges in Florida, Barrett now faces drug and gun charges in Colorado after marshals found a marijuana grow house and multiple firearms in his home, officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/florida-murderer-caught-32-years-prison-escape-003059393.html
Wow, this is an incredible story. If he's really guilty of his crime, then he's a real piece of shit, killing a good samaritan who was kind enough to give him and his hitchhiking pal a lift.
But it sounds like since he escaped prison he kept to his own devices and survived for 32 years without any police contact, that's pretty impressive. Guess you'd really have to follow the law (such as avoiding any traffic tickets, or just not own a car at all) and try to survive somehow on the underground economy, hoping that your "grow" operation would never be discovered.
At 60-years-old now, I guess you have to ask: is he really a danger to anyone anymore? Seems like its kind of stupid to waste taxpayer dollars on all his upkeep and health care costs as he slowly deteriorates. Maybe they'll parole him after a few more years, if it turns up he wasn't involved in any more serious crime while he was out. Crazy.