FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by year, 1968

In 1968, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a nineteenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

The FBI began the year 1968 with almost a clean slate for the top Ten list, as only one Top Tenner Fugitive on the list was a true multi-year long-timer still at large. The remaining nine Fugitives on the list were all from the prior year:

* 1965 #203 (three years), John William Clouser remained still at large
* 1967 #243 (one year), Monroe Hickson declared deceased by January 30 1968
* 1967 #246 (one year), Gordon Dale Ervin remained still at large
* 1967 #250 (one year), Carmen Raymond Gagliardi arrested December 23 1968
* 1967 #256 (five months), Jerry Ray James arrested January 24 1968
* 1967 #257 (four months), Richard Paul Anderson arrested January 19 1968
* 1967 #258 (four months), Henry Theodore Young arrested January 9 1968
* 1967 #259 (five months), Donald Eugene Sparks arrested January 24 1968
* 1967 #260 (one month), Zelma Lavone King arrested January 30 1968
* 1967 #261 (three months), Jerry Reece Peacock arrested March 5 1968

Even then, the FBI managed to clear most of this list through arrests very early in the year, and so by year end, the FBI had amazingly listed an additional thirty-two new Fugitives in 1968, by far surpassing the long-standing previous record of twenty-four additions from 1953. The huge number of new listings in 1968 capped a decade-long streak of double-digit additions to the list, and really ended the era of frequent listings and quick captures by the FBI.

1968 also brought the first woman to the list, Ruth Eisemann-Schier, at the end of the year. 1968 also saw the second and third "Special Additions," to the list (temporarily bringing the total wanted Fugitive count to eleven). One was Schier's partner, Gary Steven Krist, and the other was James Earl Ray, the infamous fugitive assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1968 fugitives

The Ten Most Wanted Fugitives listed by the FBI in 1968 include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):

Ronald Eugene Storck

January 19 1968 #262
One month on the list
Ronald Eugene Storck - U.S. prisoner arrested February 29 1968 in Honolulu, Hawaii. cite book|author=Federal Bureau of Investigation |title=FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Program: 50th Anniversary 1950-2000 |publisher=K&D Limited, Inc. |year=2000]

Robert Leon McCain

January 31 1968 #263
Three weeks on the list
Robert Leon McCain - U.S. prisoner arrested February 23 1968 in Gulfport, Florida by local police. A police sergeant who had recently finished a training course at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia recognized McCain from the "Top Ten" flyers displayed there.

William Garrin Allen II

February 9 1968 #264
One month on the list
William Garrin Allen II - U.S. prisoner arrested March 23 1968 in Brooklyn, New York.

Charles Lee Herron

February 9 1968 #265
Eighteen years on the list; by 1982, he had surpassed the previous record of fourteen years set back in 1964
Charles Lee Herron - U.S. prisoner arrested June 18, 1986 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Leonard Daniel Spears

February 13 1968 #266
Two weeks on the list
Leonard Daniel Spears - U.S. prisoner arrested March 2 1968 in Tampa, Florida.

William Howard Bornman

February 13 1968 #267
One day on the list
William Howard Bornman - U.S. prisoner arrested February 13 1968 in Covington, Kentucky.

John Conway Patterson

February 26 1968 #268
Three weeks on the list
John Conway Patterson - U.S. prisoner arrested March 17 1968 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by local police and his identity confirmed by fingerprints.

Troy Denver Martin

March 9 1968 #269
One week on the list
Troy Denver Martin - U.S. prisoner arrested March 19 1968 in Seattle, Washington after an employment agency manager recognized him from his Identification Order.

George Benjamin Williams

March 18 1968 #270
Two months on the list
George Benjamin Williams - found murdered May 26 1968, his skeletal remains found by prospectors near a mine in Nevada, with three bullet holes in his skull. Williams had been dead for six months.

Michael John Sanders

March 21 1968 #271
Two weeks on the list
Michael John Sanders - U.S. prisoner arrested April 8 1968 in New York City.

Howard Callens Johnson

March 21 1968 #272
One month on the list
Howard Callens Johnson - U.S. prisoner arrested April 24 1968 in Louisville, Kentucky after a citizen recognized himfrom a wanted poster.

George Edward Wells

March 28 1968 #273
One year on the list
George Edward Wells - U.S. prisoner arrested May 27 1969 outside a motel in South Point, Ohio by FBI Agents.

David Evans

April 3 1968 #274
One month on the list
David Evans (fugitive) - U.S. prisoner arrested April 26 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after being shot twice by local police as they responded to a burglar alarm at a doctor's home.

Franklin Allen Paris

April 9 1968 #275
One month on the list
Franklin Allen Paris - U.S. prisoner arrested May 21 1968 in Lakehead, California.

David Stuart Neff

April 18 1968 #276
One week on the list
David Stuart Neff - U.S. prisoner arrested April 25 1968 in Brooklyn, New York.

James Earl Ray

April 20 1968 #277, & also June 11 1977 #351
Two months on the list, the second "Special Addition"
James Earl Ray - deceased in prison; was a U.S. prisoner, and a British prisoner, apprehended June 8 1968 in London, England by British authorities for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

John Wesley Shannon, Jr.

May 7 1968 #278
One month on the list
John Wesley Shannon, Jr. - U.S. prisoner arrested June 5 1968 in Camden, New Jersey FBI Agents and local police.

Taylor Morris Teaford

May 10 1968 #279
Four years on the list
Taylor Morris Teaford - PROCESS DISMISSED May 24 1972 in Fresno, California.

Phillip Morris Jones

June 5 1968 #280
Three weeks on the list
Phillip Morris Jones - U.S. prisoner surrendered June 26 1968 at the FBI office in San Mateo, California after seeing wanted poster in a local post office. At the time of hisarrest, he had a fully loaded automatic pistol in his possession.

Johnny Ray Smith

June 20 1968 #281
Four days on the list
Johnny Ray Smith - U.S. prisoner arrested June 24 1968 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi after a citizen recognized himfrom a newspaper article.

Byron James Rice

July 5 1968 #282
Four years on the list
Byron James Rice - U.S. prisoner surrendered October 2 1972 to the Chicago FBI Field Office following intensive FBI investigative pressure on his acquaintances.

Robert Leroy Lindblad

July 11 1968 #283
Three months on the list
Robert Leroy Lindblad - U.S. prisoner surrendered October 7 1968 to the District Attorney of Lyon County, Nevada in
Yerington, Nevada.

James Joseph Scully

July 15 1968 #284
One week on the list
James Joseph Scully - U.S. prisoner arrested July 23, 1968 in Arcadia, California by FBI Agents and local police.

Billy Ray White

August 13 1968 #285
Four days on the list
Billy Ray White - U.S. prisoner arrested August 17 1968White was arrested after a citizen recognized him from an article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper.

Frederick Rudolph Yokom

August 29 1968 #286
One week on the list
Frederick Rudolph Yokom - U.S. prisoner arrested September 17 1968 in Wood River, Illinois after a citizen recognized him.

Harold James Evans

September 19 1968 #287
Four months on the list
Harold James Evans - U.S. prisoner arrested January 2 1969 in Chicago, Illinois.

Robert Lee Carr

October 18 1968 #288
Three weeks on the list
Robert Lee Carr - U.S. prisoner arrested November 4 1968 in South Gate, California after a citizen recognized him froma wanted flyer.

Levi Washington

November 15 1968 #289
Three weeks on the list
Levi Washington - U.S. prisoner arrested December 5 1968 in Jackson, Michigan for a local bank robbery. A fingerprint comparison revealed his true identity.

Richard Lee Tingler

December 20 1968 #290
Five months on the list
Richard Lee Tingler - U.S. prisoner arrested May 19 1969 near Dill City, Oklahoma by FBI Agents and local officers.

George Michael Gentile

June 18 1968 #291
Six months on the list
George Michael Gentile - U.S. prisoner arrested December 17 1968 in New York City by local police.

Gary Steven Krist

December 20 1968 #292
Two days on the list, third "Special Addition" ever added to the list
Gary Steven Krist - U.S. prisoner arrested December 22 1968 in Punta Gorda, Florida by FBI and local police. Krist and his partner, Ruth Eisemann Schier (Fugitive #293) were later indicted on Georgia state charges of kidnapping with ransom.

Ruth Eisemann Schier

December 28 1968 #293
Three months on the list, the first woman ever added to the list
Ruth Eisemann Schier - U.S. prisoner arrested March 5 1969 in Norman, Oklahoma by FBI Agents. Ruth Eisemann Schierand her partner, Gary Steven Krist (Fugitive #292) were later indicted on Georgia state charges of kidnapping with ransom.

ee also

Later entries

*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1980s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1970s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1960s

Prior entries

*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1950s

References

External links

* [http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm Current FBI top ten most wanted fugitives at FBI site]
* [http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/topten.pdf FBI pdf source document listing all Ten Most Wanted year by year (removed by FBI)]