Fugitive Busted in Florida 56 Years After Escaping Prison Farm
MELBOURNE, Fla., May 5 (UPI) —Authorities in Florida said a 79-year-old fugitive convicted of manslaughter was arrested 56 years after he escaped from custody.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said Frank Freshwater was arrested Monday in Melbourne after he was found to be living under the assumed name William H. Cox.
The sheriff’s office said Freshwater was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for violating the terms of his probation from the manslaughter conviction and he began serving his time at the Ohio State Reformatory, also known as Shawshank State Prison. Freshwater escaped from the Sandusky Ohio Honor Farm in 1959, after serving only seven months of his sentence.
Deputies said the office’s GAMEOVER Task Force located Freshwater at his Melbourne home after a newly created Marshal’s Task Force in Ohio uncovered evidence he had been living in Brevard County for about 20 years.
Investigators said he worked as a truck driver and lived in several states before settling in Florida.
Freshwater was booked into the Brevard County Jail with no bond. Deputies said he will be extradicted back to Ohio.
