It took 36 years, but federal agents finally tracked down the fugitive, William Walter Asher III, 66, who was living with a woman who had no idea the man was running from the law for more than three decades.
Asher was arrested Friday at his home in Salida just south of Sacramento, California; He was being held at the Sierra Conservation Center and could face new charges related to his escape.
Asher, who was 20 at the time, was sentenced to seven years to life in prison after him and three accomplices robbed a San Francisco bar during which a bartender was shot and beaten to death in 1966.
In January 1975, Asher, with the help of a non-incarcerated female accomplice, escaped from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The FBI issued a warrant and subsequently tracked Asher to Alaska & Canada. Investigators later determined Asher had assumed the name David Donald Mcfee, worked as a long haul truck driver, married and raised a family. He eventually separated from his wife who was later interviewed by authorities, but she was unable to provide information on the whereabouts of Asher.
The trail went cold until July of 2005 when Asher’s mother passed away. Prior to her death she had asked various family members to assist her in contacting her son via a secret phone number.
Based on the investigative information collected authorities at last were able to apprehend Asher.
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Additional Information: The Sacramento Bee
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