FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by year, 1953
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, continued for a fourth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...
.
1953 was a very productive year for the FBI, as the Bureau listed and then also soon caught many fugitives. At the rate of two fugitives per month, 1953 long held the early record (surpassed in 1968)
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....
for the most top ten fugitives listed in a single year, numbering 24 in total.
1953 fugitives
The "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" listed by the FBI in 1953 include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):Charles Patrick Shue
January 15, 1953 #41One month on the list
Charles Patrick Shue - U.S. prisoner arrested February 13, 1953 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
as a result of the FBI being notified after an individual recognized Shue's picture in a newspaper
Lawson David Shirk Butler
January 22, 1953 #42Three months on the list
Lawson David Shirk Butler - U.S. prisoner arrested April 21, 1953 in Los Angeles, California
Joseph James Brletic
February 8, 1953 #43Two days on the list
Joseph James Brletic - U.S. prisoner arrested February 10, 1953 in Lancaster, California
Lancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...
by the Los Angeles Sheriff's office after being recognized from a photograph in the Los Angeles Herald-Express newspaper
David Dallas Taylor
March 3, 1953 #44Three months on the list
David Dallas Taylor - U.S. prisoner arrested May 26, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois
Perlie Miller
March 4, 1953 #45One day on the list
Perlie Miller - U.S. prisoner arrested March 5, 1953 while working at a local diner, when a customer recognized him from a published "Top Ten" photograph, in Somersworth, New Hampshire
Somersworth, New Hampshire
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,477 people, 4,687 households, and 3,079 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,173.4 people per square mile . There were 4,841 housing units at an average density of 494.9 per square mile...
Fred William Bowerman
March 5, 1953 #46Two months on the list
Fred William Bowerman
Fred William Bowerman
Fred William Bowerman was an American criminal, bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A veteran holdup man, his criminal career lasted over 30 years and was placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list in 1953. That same year, Bowerman organized and led the disastrous Southwest Bank holdup in St...
- deceased, was mortally wounded April 24, 1953 by police officers while attempting to flee
the scene of a bank robbery in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
Robert Benton Mathus
March 16, 1953 #47Three days on the list
Robert Benton Mathus - U.S. prisoner arrested March 19, 1953 in Duson, Louisiana
Duson, Louisiana
Duson is a town in Acadia and Lafayette parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 1,672 at the 2000 census. The town was named after Curley Duson....
by the FBI and local police after
being recognized by a citizen from a wanted flyer
Floyd Allen Hill
March 30, 1953 #48Three weeks on the list
Floyd Allen Hill - U.S. prisoner arrested April 18, 1953 in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
Joseph Levy
May 1, 1953 #49Caught before publication
Joseph Levy (fugitive) - U.S. prisoner apprehended April 30, 1953 in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
by FBI Agents who recognized him from the "Top Ten" material sent to the field office one day prior to the public announcement of the list.
Arnold Hinson
May 4, 1953 #50Six months on the list
Arnold Hinson - U.S. prisoner apprehended November 7, 1953 by Special Agents in the downtown area of Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
Gordon Lee Cooper
May 11, 1953 #51One month on the list
Gordon Lee Cooper - U.S. prisoner arrested June 11, 1953 in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
on a citizen tip when he was recognized from newspaper publicity
Fleet Robert Current
May 18, 1953 #52Two months on the list
Fleet Robert Current
Fleet Robert Current
Fleet Robert Current was an American bank robber and listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list in 1953.Current began his criminal career in 1942, when he was convicted for burglary and sentenced to nine months imprisonment in Oakland County jail and, following his release, would be linked to...
- U.S. prisoner arrested July 12, 1953 on an Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
street corner
Donald Charles Fitterer
June 8, 1953 #53Two weeks on the list
Donald Charles Fitterer - U.S. prisoner arrested June 21, 1953 in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
by FBI and California State Patrol when a citizen had reported him to FBI Headquarters after recognizing him from a True Detective
True Detective
True Detective has been the name of several different magazines.The first was an American true crime magazine featuring articles about crime and criminals, created by publisher Bernarr Macfadden in 1924; it's considered the first true crime magazine. Although generally lurid, True Detective did...
radio broadcast
John Raleigh Cooke
June 22, 1953 #54Four months on the list
John Raleigh Cooke - U.S. prisoner arrested October 20, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
as he descended for lunch from a roof
on a construction project where he was working as a welder. Upon arrest, Cooke stated it was a relief to be caught as he knew from newspaper articles he was on the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and distance would not aid him in his flight.
Jack Gordon White
July 6, 1953 #55Two months on the list
Jack Gordon White - U.S. prisoner apprehended August 27, 1953 during a traffic stop made without incident in downtown Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, when a police officer recognized him from an Identification Order, and then FBI and police determined the make of the vehicle he was driving, and were able to locate him
Alex Richard Bryant
July 14, 1953 #56Seven months on the list
Alex Richard Bryant - U.S. prisoner arrested January 26, 1954 in Los Angeles, California
George William Krendich
July 22, 1953 #57Three months on the list
George William Krendich - SUICIDE found October 11, 1953 in an abandoned Jeep in a lonely wooded area of Dunn County, North Dakota
Dunn County, North Dakota
-Major highways:*North Dakota Highway 8*North Dakota Highway 22*North Dakota Highway 200-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 3,600 people, 1,378 households, and 986 families residing in the county. The population density was 2 people per square mile . There were 1,965 housing units...
; from asphyxiation of carbon monoxide fumes piped from the exhaust into the closed Jeep
Lloyd Reed Russell
September 8, 1953 #58One year on the list
Lloyd Reed Russell - KILLED in a gun battle with local police officers August 3, 1954 in Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
Edwin Sanford Garrison
October 26, 1953 #59One week on the list, was also Fugitive #112 in 1959
Edwin Sanford Garrison - later also became Fugitive #112 in 1959; U.S. prisoner arrested November 3, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
without incident following citizen
recognition of Garrison from a newspaper photograph
Franklin James Wilson
November 2, 1953 #60Three months on the list
Franklin James Wilson - U.S. prisoner arrested January 18, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois, after which in an interview Wilson decried the notoriety surrounding his addition to the list and blamed the extensive publicity for his early capture
Charles E. Johnson
November 12, 1953 #61One year on the list
Charles E. Johnson (FBI Most Wanted fugitive) - U.S. prisoner apprehended December 28, 1954 in Central Islip, Long Island, New York after a citizen recognized him from a magazine article in the November 14, 1953 issue of the Saturday Evening Post
Thomas Jackson Massingale
November 18, 1953 #62Eight days on the list
Thomas Jackson Massingale - U.S. prisoner apprehended November 26, 1953 in Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...
after a citizen recognized him from a photograph in the November 24, 1953 issue of the Saturday Evening Post
Peter Edward Kenzik
December 7, 1953 #63One year on the list
Peter Edward Kenzik - U.S. prisoner arrested January 26, 1955 in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
for drunkenness, with a gun
found in his possession, and identified by a routine fingerprint check
Thomas Everett Dickerson
December 10, 1953 #64Two weeks on the list
Thomas Everett Dickerson - U.S. prisoner arrested December 21, 1953 in Verdunville, West Virginia
Verdunville, West Virginia
Verdunville is an unincorporated census-designated place in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. Verdunville is west of Logan. Verdunville has a post office with ZIP code 25649. As of the 2010 census, its population was 687....
by FBI and the West Virginia State Patrol
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Later entries
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000sFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s-FBI Headlines in the 2000s:The 2000s started out badly for the FBI's much needed attempts to upgrade technology. First, the Trilogy project went far over the $380 million budget, and behind its three-year schedule. Then, Virtual Case File, or VCF, planned for completion in 2003, was officially...
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990sFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990sThe FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1990s is a list, maintained for a fifth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 1990s:...
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1980sFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1980sThe FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1980s is a list, maintained for a fourth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI headlines in the 1980s:...
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1970sFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1970sThe FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1970s is a list, maintained for a third decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI headlines in the 1970s:...
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1960sFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1960sIn the 1960s, for a second decade, the United States FBI continued to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives...
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1950sFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1950sIn the 1950s, the United States FBI began to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Following is a brief review of FBI people and events that place the 1950s decade in context, and then an historical list of individual fugitives whose names first...
External links
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s
-FBI Headlines in the 2000s:The 2000s started out badly for the FBI's much needed attempts to upgrade technology. First, the Trilogy project went far over the $380 million budget, and behind its three-year schedule. Then, Virtual Case File, or VCF, planned for completion in 2003, was officially...
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1990s is a list, maintained for a fifth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 1990s:...
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1980s
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1980s is a list, maintained for a fourth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI headlines in the 1980s:...
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1970s
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1970s is a list, maintained for a third decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI headlines in the 1970s:...
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1960s
In the 1960s, for a second decade, the United States FBI continued to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives...
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1950s
In the 1950s, the United States FBI began to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Following is a brief review of FBI people and events that place the 1950s decade in context, and then an historical list of individual fugitives whose names first...