Thirty-six years is an unusually long time to be ‘on the run’, especially if the FBI is after you. But that is just what happened to William Walter Asher III, who’s been running and hiding from justice since 1976.
It all started in 1966 when Asher, then 20 years old, robbed a bar in San Francisco with 3 accomplices. During the robbery they shot and then beat the unarmed bartender to death. Asher escaped to Chicago, where he hid until authorities tracked him down a year later.
Brought back to San Francisco for trial, Asher was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He had other plans however, and 8 years into his sentence managed to escape with the help of a female accomplice. The FBI tracked him to Canada’s Northern Territories before the trail went cold.
It stayed that way until 2005, when his dying mother began asking relatives to get in touch with her son. An anonymous source tipped the Feds, who were told of calls made to ‘Billy” on a secret number. Using the lead, Agents scoured phone records for months looking for clues to the whereabouts of the convicted murderer, eventually finding 2 suspicious calls made to a Gary Webb in Salida, California.
Tracking down ‘Mr. Webb’ on the California DMV database they were shocked to see that ‘Mr. Webb’ resembled Asher, albeit older, thinner and grayer. A stake out was implemented and Webb’s home was put under 24 hour surveillance. The same was done at the trucking company where Webb worked.
Before long Agents spotted their man. They approached and, after a relatively short discussion, Webb admitted to being the escaped fugitive Asher. The convict had been living in Salida for over 10 years with a woman who was unaware of his special status with the FBI.
Whether or not Momma Asher had meant to do it, she was instrumental in the recapture of her murderous son, who once again resides in the California federal prison system.
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