Here’s some tips from a pro. If you ever have cause to use them, don’t mention my name.
Cross a state line as quickly as possible, preferably within the first hour. Move to another part of the country.
Avoid your family and friends. They’ll be watched.
Don’t get arrested. A routine fingerprint check will reveal you’re an escaped felon.
Take public transportation. If you get away clean the most likely way you’ll get recaptured is at a routine traffic stop for some trivial driving offense.
Also, stay home on Saturday nights and watch America’s Most Wanted. If you’re on, it’s time to move again.
I don’t have any suggestions: you fellows seem to have covered it nicely. But you reminded me of the fellow who escaped with the aid of his cousin and (smirk) fiance. I remember them saying he was skilled at living off the land and they thought the two were in a remote area. I don’t remember any stories about him being recaptured, did he get away scot free? I’m betting his cousin/fiance is resting comfortably in a remote location – in a shallow grave – if they have not been recaptured.
In my city of Memphis, there was an inner city kid named Deaderick Stokes. He was arrested and charged with first degree murder. He posted bond and got one of the best lawyers in the city and was convicted.
Right before the jury came back with a decision, Stokes asked and was excused to go to the bathroom. Since he was unguarded (he was out on bond) he took off. It took about two weeks to find him hiding out in the city. Goes back to the city lockup.
About a week later, the jail accidentally released him because of a computer error. Stokes walks out of jail and is on the run again. This time his brother and father help him hide. The police/government are so mad and embarrassed, they arrested the father and really leaned on the brother to give up Deadrick, which the brother ended up doing under threat of prosecution.
Deaderick was found in a budget motel, again, in the city of Memphis where he was convicted! Deaderick knew he was going to be convicted, but did not have the money or resources to run away. I would of personally tried to leave the state, especially since Memphis, Tennessee borders two other states. But even that would not help him much. As soon as he leaves the state, it becomes an FBI matter. If he could of left the country, then INTERPOL and a third world police force would be on his tail.
There really isn’t anywhere to run. Computers and the intenet will catch your ass. There was some very rich asshole in California who was the heir to the famous Max-Factor makeup empire who jumped bail and went to Mexico. Unfortunatley for him, this is as far as he went. A bounty hunter got him and sent him back. There are almost no countries that someone cannot get extraditied from. Where can one go? North Korea? Iran? Someone mentioned Laos. I have been to Laos and it is beautiful, but the police there would not allow a foreigner just “to live there”. No country allows that. So being an international criminal really involves jumping from one nation to another, never really feeling safe, with ironically, the nations where a criminal would feel the safest from western justice would be the most dangerous or remote parts of the World. The World now is getting very small, we do not live in a place now where a criminal can make a new start on the far side of Zanzibar.
Boston gangster, killer, and FBI operative Whitey Bulger has been at large for 15 years now.
He is wanted in connection with 19 and possibly involved in as many as 24 murders.
he disappeared in 1995, and the FBI claims to be looking for him.
How can this be?
Either he is very lucky, or else he is getting help from his family (I suspect this to be the case).
Another American fugitive that was offed by the same American murderer, who was himself a fugitive. The link I posted above is the news of an American fugitive who’d been on the run for 20 years and offed, along with his family, by the same killer. Oy!
I hate when TV or movies mention the Dominican Republic as a haven for people on the run. There is an episode of Law and Order that specially irked me. No, the DR is not a safe haven. The Dominican government will extradite you for practically any reason. Specially if you are not Dominican. They do it all the time. It rarely even make the news.
There was some French guy who had been on the run for almost a decade with a conviction for government corruption and fraud pending that was caught here. He was living a lavish life under an assumed name. He even met socially with the then-vice president. Talk about stupid.
An American fugitive was caught when she started a blog about her life here, and only changed her surname. She even posted photos of herself.
A Puerto Rican capo running from a 219 years-sentence made it here (practically next door), where he proceeded to get back into the drug business, and lived a luxurious and very public life. When the Dominican authorities came for him he called a popular radio show and offered a reward to whoever killed the chief of police and the head of the drug enforcement agency. He ran and went to… wait for it: Puerto Rico. He was caught.
I guess the first thing you oughta do if you are on the run is to lay low, and well… hope for the best.
I think these two answers pretty much cover it. I’ve heard that it’s “avoid your family and friends” that trips up most criminals on the run (and people in the Witness Protection Program). I can’t imagine never seeing, speaking with, or even writing to any of the people I love ever again; I think I’d stick with prison instead.
ETA: Of course, if you’re a famous film director, then all you have to do is fly to Switzerland and cry, “But I’m an ARTIST!” and you need never fear.
Once you can get rid of those striped shirt and pants with your prison number, you’re home free!
These are certainly helpful hints. Some comments -
Can you REALLY stand at the freeway exit with a sign, begging for money, as mentioned by a poster? Do you think the police are just going to smile and wave as they drive by?
Would you have the resources to “jump from country to country” keeping ahead of the law? Would you, bubba, know how to get a fake passport? And what do you do when you get to Laos or Belize? Try to find a Holiday Inn?
Would you know where to get fake ID? How would you know who to ask? Find someone who looks like an illegal immigrant and ask them how they did it?
Are you counting on some hot woman to take you in, hide you, support you - you, a mystery man, riding the bus, no friends or relatives? (Answer: Most DEFINITELY).
So there you are, riding the bus, growing a beard or not, sharing housing with a stranger, or eating baloney sandwiches at the “Y”, staying as sober as possible, selling plasma, eating stuff from food pantries?
Bubba, jail is sounding better and better, isn’t it? Man up and go back and do your time. You’re better off with a roof over your head, three meals a day, and plenty of social interaction in a nice penitentiary. You are not going to be George Clooney living with Selma Hayek in a tropical paradise, you are going to be Joe the Nameless Bum hiding out in a room in a firetrap on the south side of Des Moines.
Absolutely. There are a few major intersections (including one highway off-ramp) in the area of Cambridge (Massachusetts) I used to live in that always have at least one person begging for change. I’ve seen police cruisers drive through those intersections countless times without stopping. The only time I saw one stop and bother one of the beggars was when the person was blocking traffic.
On a recent episode of the TV show Weeds, some characters needed fake IDs, so one of them walked into the kitchen of a restaurant and asked (in Spanish), “Who do I talk to about some passports?” I think you’d have to be a bit more subtle not to make them think you’re a cop, but the basic idea seems sound.
Funny, I didn’t see that anywhere in what Czarcasm said. He said to look for people who need a roommate to move in and share rent.
Well, the question wasn’t about whether it’s better to stay in jail or risk escape, just how best to evade capture once you’ve already escaped.
Join a cult where the members live together and take care of each other. You could stay there for years.
Get some basic survival gear and head into the deepest wilderness you can find. Drop off the grid completely.
Are you talking about one of the Arizona escapee from July 30? They were recaptured a week and a half ago w/o incident (amazingly) at a Park campsite when a Ranger observed their campfire was left unattended.
Eric Rudolph appears to have done one of the better jobs of employing the “living off the land” approach. After the abortion clinic and Centennial Park bombings he disappeared into the woods for around 5 years. He’s thought to have had the help of sympathizers but was eventually caught while raiding a dumpster for food.
I would of course, access my Swiss bank deposit box, chose one of my alternate passports, grab the hundreds of thousands of dollars in emergency cash in various currencies, dump the gun and hope I find a cute girl to give me a lift to Paris.
Easy-peasy.
[quote=“lieu, post:34, topic:551926”]
See, that’s an example of how how still living the high life will trip you up.
Direct an Oscar-winning film.
I think that’s a lot harder than people think - sooner or later you’re going to need to pop into town for re-suppy, as living completely off the land is v. difficult for the average joe.
True. Very few people are going to be able to do this. But it’s your best chance IMO. People get caught because they attempt to resume a comfortable modern lifestyle, which entails having to deal with/be around other people. Very few people get dragged out of the deep wilderness by the FBI. Most get busted while holed up in some shitty roadside motel, their second cousin’s double-wide, trying to rob a 7-11, or some other dumb shit.
If you have the knowledge and skills to disappear into the woods, you’ll never get caught, especially if you never set up a permanent camp. Not a great life mind you, but free one.
http://www.semissourian.com/story/44801.html Here is a guy who was on the lam for 47 years.