Fugitive On The Run Since 1959 Captured

Seventy-nine year old Frank Freshwaters was tracked down by US Marshals he was a fugitive who escaped an Ohio prison farm in 1959.

Freshwaters pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 1957 for killing a pedestrian with his car.

His sentence was initially suspended, but a parole violation led to his imprisonment less than two years later.

he US Marshals Service said in a statement that Freshwaters quickly earned the trust of prison officials and was moved to the Sandusky Honor Farm to finish his sentence.

In September 1959, he fled the prison and left Ohio.

Freshwaters was next heard from in 1975, when deputies in West Virginia arrested him on the Ohio warrant.

But the state's then-governor refused to extradite him and he went back into hiding.

The fugitive became one of the top targets of the US Marshals Cold Case Unit after it was established earlier this year.

Working with the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, Marshals tracked Freshwaters to Melbourne, Florida, where he was living under the alias William Harold Cox.

Local deputies moved on the lead on Monday and arrested Freshwaters at his home without incident.

He admitted his true identity during the arrest and was taken to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, where he awaits extradition to Ohio.

"This was one of our oldest cases that many believed to be impossible to solve," Ohio Adult Parole Authority Regional Director Todd Ishee said in a statement.