Escaped US prisoner captured after 30 years
In 1994, a Prisoner Escapes in the USA
A man was arrested by the authorities in the US state of Georgia, who had escaped from a correctional facility in the USA almost 30 years ago. The 70-year-old Steven Craig Johnson escaped in November 1994 during a work detail from the Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem, Oregon. Until 1998, the inmates there processed milk for a farmers cooperative for use in various state institutions.
Johnson was serving a sentence for sexual abuse and attempted sodomy in Salem, according to a press release from the Oregon Department of Corrections. He had been in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections since June 1989.
Despite the ongoing manhunt, the convicted man remained missing for many years. In 2015, the Marshals Service took over the search. In 2024, the agency used new technologies from the Diplomatic Security Service. As a result, new leads emerged in the case.
Most Wanted
Johnson was arrested by the US Marshals Service in an apartment complex in Macon, Georgia, according to a press release from the authorities. He had lived there under the name William Cox since 2011. An investigation revealed that Johnson had stolen the identity of a child who had died in January 1962 in Texas.
The escaped prisoner obtained a copy of the child's birth certificate and used it to secure a Social Security number in Texas in 1995, according to the authorities. Three years later, he obtained a driver's license in Georgia.
Johnson was one of the most wanted fugitives in Oregon, as stated on the Corrections Department's website. In the wanted notice for Johnson, it was noted that "there is a high likelihood that he has victimized young boys before puberty." He was "prohibited from having contact with children." After his arrest, Johnson was taken to the Bibb County Jail in Georgia and is reportedly awaiting extradition to Oregon by the Oregon Department of Corrections.
The International community expressed concern over Johnson's escape, given his conviction, and urged for strict Punishment execution of his remaining sentence in the United States of America. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the Police had issues tracking Johnson due to his use of a false identity obtained from the stolen birth certificate of a deceased child in Texas.
