Craig J. Oliver conned Maryland and Virginia homeowners out of millions of dollars. Richard Morton slashed his girlfriend’s throat outside a D.C. women’s shelter. John D. Cody is a former Army captain with a Harvard law degree wanted for questioning in a federal spy probe.
The FBI has famously maintained a list of the most wanted fugitives for decades. The longest any one person has been on the roster is nearly 26 years, while the shortest is just two hours. The list was born in 1949 during a card game with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, above, and a top United Press International editor who were talking about ways to capture the “toughest” criminals. The resulting article received so much positive press that the FBI officials created a top 10 list to increase law enforcement’s ability to capture dangerous fugitives.
Now, nearly every law enforcement agency has a collection of its most wanted.
All three are fugitives who are among those law enforcement officials most want to bring to justice.
There are roughly 100,000 people in the D.C. region who are wanted by authorities, ranging from those who ignored traffic citations to mass murderers on the run for decades.
After talking to the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and local law enforcement agencies, The Examiner has selected 10 fugitives from the region considered among the most dangerous and elusive.
Some you might know.
Eric Justin Toth taught at the Washington National Cathedral’s Beauvoir Elementary School before disappearing last summer after he was tossed from the campus when authorities found pictures of naked boys on a school-owned camera.
Frederick “Freaky” Mercer was part of a gang that terrorized a neighborhood in Southeast Washington.
Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara gained the confidence of the chief of staff for a powerful senator before he swindled him and others out of millions of dollars.
Generally, if someone appears on the most wanted list, it means police are having trouble finding the fugitive and are reaching out for the extra help, said U.S. Marshal Chief Inspector Robert Fernandez, commander of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Toth is an example of that. He is intelligent and able to blend in, said Supervisory Special Agent Melissa S. Morrow. Her squad specializes in investigating crimes against children.
“We need the public’s help, because he is the type of offender fully capable of hiding in plain sight,” Morrow said.
Most captures come from tips from the community, either through informants developed by the marshals or through tips from alert citizens, Fernandez said.
“[The public is] our eyes and ears,” Fernandez said. “Instead of 30 or 40 people looking for a fugitive, we have hundreds of thousands. Our chances for success go up tremendously.”
The Examiner has featured a most wanted fugitive each week in its Crime & Punishment page since July. Readers’ tips have led directly to the capture of at least seven suspects, including violent child sex offenders and a gun-wielding kidnapping suspect.
