On this day, Sept. 23, 1981

Published September 23, 2008 4:00am ET



A two-month manhunt for a murdering writer came to an end as Jack Henry Abbott was captured in the oil fields of Louisiana.

At the time of the murder, Abbott, who wrote “In the Belly of the Beast” while behind bars, had been released to work as a literary researcher, after Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer convinced authorities that Abbott was a great writing talent.

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