Missing Model's Birthday Energizes Search
Frederick Barrett, Escaped Murderer, Finally Caught After 32 Years on the Lam
Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 9:04 am
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| Frederick Barrett managed to escape from a Florida prison in 1979 by climbing three fences during a power outage |
One of Ardolino's two murderers, Frederick Barrett, was convicted for the crime later that year. He was sentenced to do his time at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.
Barrett twice tried unsuccessfully to escape the penitentiary. His third attempt, though, would prove to be the charm. On an August night in 1979, Barrett escaped the facility in the midst of a power outage by scaling three towering fences.
In the coming decades, the fugitive Barrett -- using the alias "Neil Meltzer" -- would travel to Hawaii, Maryland, California and Tennessee, before finally settling in a remote part of the Colorado wilderness.
Since the mid-1990s, Barrett lived in a makeshift yet clean two-story cabin near Montrose, Colorado, about 200 miles southwest of Denver. Located on a dirt road bordered by the Uncompahgre National Forest and about an hour outside of Montrose, Barrett's cabin was connected to a camper.
Its floor was made of plywood and was outfitted with a wood-burning stove and generator. The ramshackle fugitive compound also housed a small yet quality marijuana growing operation.
Its floor was made of plywood and was outfitted with a wood-burning stove and generator. The ramshackle fugitive compound also housed a small yet quality marijuana growing operation.
In 2009 Florida authorities launched a new fugitive initiative. Its aim was to find about a dozen long-term prison escapees with violent histories.
Using public records and other databases, officials tracked Barrett to Colorado.
Late last month, they finally closed in on their wanted man.
U.S. Marshals Service officers dressed as Forest Service firefighters rapped on Barrett's cabin door saying they wanted to talk to him about fire danger. Through one of the cabin windows, an officer saw a tattoo on Barrett's hand that matched one he was known to have some 30 years ago.
The gig was up.
"His whole face," Charlie Ahmad of the Marshals Service told the Associated Press, "every expression dropped out his face."
Barrett currently sits in the Montrose County jail awaiting extradition to Florida.
See our last story from the Fugitives file: Clifford Jackson III Kills Girlfriend's Dad After Daughter Breaks Up With Him.
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24 comments
Well the last line did say "every expression dropped out of his face." maybe that's what did it lol
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!Oh god, I love that!He's all Oh I'm safe cops can't get me, I've been here so long they forgot.And then...
So remember Kuei, they're on the hunt, and they WILL find you.
32 years on the lam. Obviously cops spend way too much time searching for seat belt violators instead of murderers. Cops are disgusting!
I can't get over the "Barrett lived in a makeshift yet clean two-story cabin." Nice to know he was able to keep house. LOL, but I guess compared to other stories on here, it's wise to know you don't only have to watch out for slobs. Neat people can also be dangerous.
It wasnt the tattoo that tipped them off, it was his epic unibrow.
He is saying that he is afraid to go back to Florida because he helped some guards out during a prison riot back in 79.
Too bad so sad.
He's had 32 years on the outside, bet he forgets that he killed a man and blames society for the predicament he's now in.
http://www.cfnews13.com/static...I believe it's a strap to keep the other inmates' testicles from banging his chin...
I do hope he gets to finish out his days in Raiford. The state's execution chamber with Old Sparky are located at the penitentiary
