National

The FBI's 'Ten Most Wanted': Two Down, Eight To Go

By NPR Staff

Published June 25, 2011 at 4:21 AM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

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Glen Stewart Godwin has been caught before, at least twice. Convicted of a brutal murder, he escaped California's Folsom State Prison in 1987, only to be caught later that year for drug trafficking. While serving time in a Guadalajara prison, Godwin allegedly murdered another inmate in 1991 and escaped again, just months later.

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Little-Known Facts About An Infamous List

In The Beginning
The "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" program was launched on March 14, 1950 — a joint effort between the FBI and national news media.

Nobody Is THE Most Wanted
The list doesn't rank fugitives in any order; just being on the list makes them all equal priority — the highest.

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Fugitives By The Hundreds
At present, 494 fugitives have landed on the list. All but 30 of them have been located with 152 captured though help from the public. Of those, 17 were apprehended through the long-running TV show, America's Most Wanted.

Women Are Most Wanted, Too
Eight women have made the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list, the first being Ruth Eisemann-Schier, who made the list in 1968 for kidnapping, extortion and other charges.

The Price Of Justice
The minimum reward for the capture of a "Ten Most Wanted" fugitive is $100,000. Sometimes, as in the case of Osama bin Laden, the amount can be much larger.

A Dubious Honor
With 59 apprehensions, California leads the nation in the number of "Most Wanted" fugitives captured.

Doing Time On The List
At 27 years, Victor Manuel Gerena has been on the list longer than any other fugitive. Billie Austin Bryant, however, spent the least amount of time on the list — just two hours.

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Source: The FBI