The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1980s is a list, maintained for a fourth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
FBI headlines in the 1980s During the 1980s, the FBI added the names of the two longest-lasting profiles of the Top Ten Fugitives. The current longest member, Victor Manuel Gerena became the 386th fugitive to be placed on May 14, 1984, and is currently still at large. The FBI added, Donald Eugene Webb, on May 4, 1981, who remained on the list until March 2007 when the FBI, presuming his death, removed his name. Webb the second longest member of the list, remained on 25 years, 10 months and 27 days. The 1980s also brought the first man-and-woman couple listed together, who were FALN terrorist group associates Donna Jean Willmott and Claude Daniel Marks. The couple surrendered together seven years later, then pleaded guilty together to a Leavenworth prison breakout conspiracy from 1987.
Among other prominent fugitives in the decade were Mutulu Shakur, the stepfather of the later famed rapper Tupac Shakur. The boss of the Colombo crime family, Carmine Persico, also made the list in the 1980s.
The decade also was marked by the start of the popular Fox television program America's Most Wanted in 1988, which became a major new publicity venue for profiling and then the apprehension of many of the FBI's Top Ten Fugitives.
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 1980s The FBI in the past has identified individuals by the sequence number in which each individual has appeared on the list. Some individuals have even appeared twice, and often a sequence number was permanently assigned to an individual suspect who was soon caught, captured, or simply removed, before their appearance could be published on the publicly released list. In those cases, the public would see only gaps in the number sequence reported by the FBI. For convenient reference, the wanted suspect's sequence number and date of entry on the FBI list appear below, whenever possible.
As the new decade opened, the following Fugitives from prior years still remained at large, as the members of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list:
NameSequence NumberDate of EntryNotesCharles Lee Herron#2651968Arrested in June 1986Katherine Ann Power#3151970Surrendered to authorities in 1993Joseph Maurice McDonald#3391976Arrested September 15, 1982Raymond Luc Levasseur#3501977Arrested November 4, 1984Carlos Alberto Torres#3561977Arrested April 4, 1980Charles Everett Hughes#3641978Arrested April 29, 1981Leo Joseph Koury#3661979Eluded the FBI for 12 years before dying of a stroke on June 16, 1991.John William Sherman#3671979Arrested December 17, 1981Earl Edwin Austin#3701979Arrested March 1, 1980Vincent James Russo#3711979Arrested January 4, 1985
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives added during the 1980s The most wanted fugitives listed in the decade of the 1980s includes (in FBI list appearance sequence order):
1980 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time Listed Albert Victory#372March 14, 1980One yearAlbert Victory was wanted by the FBI after he slipped away from two New York prison guards he had bribed to take him to his girlfriend's hotel room. He was in prison for killing New York City police officer John E. Varecha during a traffic stop. He was arrested at his home after being traced to Lafayette, California on February 24, 1981, by New York State Police. Ronald Turney Williams#373April 16, 1980One yearRonald Turney Williams was wanted for escaping West Virginia State Penitentiary in a mass breakout on Nov. 7, 1979, where he was serving a life sentence for murder, armed robbery, kidnapping and arson. During the escape, they came across a passing vehicle and fatally shot the driver who was an off-duty West Virginia state trooper. He was arrested at a stakeout at George Washington Hotel in New York City on June 8, 1981. He was shot and wounded by an FBI agent.
1981 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time ListedDaniel Jay Barney#374March 10, 1981One monthDaniel Jay Barney was wanted for escaping jail. The FBI stated the he and his brother had the MO of breaking into woman's homes and taking turns sexually assaulting them. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot following a hostage crisis on April 19, 1981, where he had taken four hostages in a condo in Denver, Colorado. After two escaped and the police negotiated the release of the other two hostages, Barney killed himself.Donald Eugene Webb#375May 4, 1981Removed from the listDonald Eugene Webb was wanted in connection with the December 4, 1980, murder of the police chief in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, who was shot twice at close range after being brutally beaten in the head and face with a blunt instrument. After eluding capture for over two decades, he was removed from the list on March 31, 2007, without ever being located. On July 14, 2017, remains found at the Dartmouth home of Webb's wife were identified as belonging to Webb. Investigators stated that Webb had died in 1999.Victoria Warren, Remains found in Dartmouth yard are those of fugitive wanted for killing police chief, The Associated Press via WHDH News, July 14, 2017Gilbert James Everett#376May 13, 1981Four yearsGilbert James Everett was wanted for a spree of 86 bank robberies in the 1980s and was arrested by local police in Bismarck, Arkansas on August 12, 1985.Leslie Nichols#377July 2, 1981Five monthsLeslie Nichols was wanted for killing four people in Little Rock, Arkansas, between June 12 and 15, 1980, in drug-related shootings. The victims hands and feet were tied with coat hanger wire and shot in the head execution style. He was arrested in his apartment in Los Angeles, California on December 17, 1981, by FBI agents and local police.
1982 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time ListedThomas William Manning#378January 29, 1982Three yearsThomas William Manning was a part of a Marxist organization, the United Freedom Front (UFF), which bombed a series of US military and commercial institutes. Funded by bank robberies in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was arrested in Norfolk, Virginia on April 24, 1985.David Fountain Kimberly Jr.#379January 29, 1982Six monthsDavid Fountain Kimberly Jr. shot and wounded a federal police officer in October 1981. He was arrested without incident in Matecumbe Key, Florida on July 8, 1982, by FBI agents; despite being armed with a loaded .38 caliber tucked in his waistband.Mutulu Shakur#380July 23, 1982Four years Mutulu Shakur was arrested February 11, 1986, in Los Angeles, California, on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act charges for bank robbery to finance a militant organization, and for having aided Assata Shakur (unrelated), in her escape from prison in New Jersey, where she had been incarcerated for the murder and wounding of one state trooper and another Black Panther member accompanying her in 1973 while stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike.Charles Edward Watson#381October 22, 1982One yearCharles Edward Watson was wanted for escaping prison while serving time as an accessory to the murder of a state trooper with a shotgun. After the murder he and another fled the scene, kidnapped a woman and raped her. He was arrested in Slatington, Pennsylvania on October 25, 1983, while leaving his residence.
1983 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time ListedLaney Gibson Jr.#382November 28, 1983Three weeksLaney Gibson Jr. was wanted for escaping the Clay County jail with other prisoners while awaiting trial for the murder of R. T. Gray. He was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama on December 18, 1983, at a suburban motel.
1984 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time ListedGeorge Clarence Bridgette#383January 10, 1984Three weeksGeorge Clarence Bridgette was wanted for the murder of four people, including a 3-year-old child in a drug related shooting, where he and two other accomplices walked into a Long Beach, California, house and shot five people. He was arrested in Miami, Florida on January 30, 1984, after a civilian recognized his photo from an Identification Order in a post office.Samuel Marks Humphrey#384February 29, 1984One monthSamuel Marks Humphrey was wanted in connection to a murder of a man in his home and two bank robberies. He was arrested in Portland, Oregon on March 22, 1984.Christopher Bernard Wilder#385April 5, 1984One weekChristopher Bernard Wilder was wanted for the murders of several young women in several different states. He was killed in a shootout with police at a gas station in Colebrook, New Hampshire, on April 13, 1984.Victor Manuel Gerena#386May 14, 1984Still at large but removed from the listVictor Manuel Gerena is wanted in connection with the 1983 armed robbery of approximately $7 million from a security company in Connecticut. He allegedly took two security employees hostage at gunpoint and then handcuffed, bound and injected them with an unknown substance in order to further disable them. He was removed from the list on December 15, 2016. He was on the list for 32 years, seven months and one day - the longest anyone has been on the list.Wai-Chiu Ng#387June 15, 1984Four monthsWai-Chiu Ng was wanted in the February 19, 1983 Wah Mee massacre, the worst mass killing in the history of Seattle, Washington, during which thirteen people were shot to death at the Wah Mee Club, a gambling club in Seattle's International District. He was acquitted in April 1985 of murder, but convicted of 13 counts of first-degree robbery, and sentenced to seven consecutive life terms. He was arrested in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on October 4, 1984, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He became the third suspect, charged in absentia on March 30, 1983, with 13 counts of aggravated first-degree murder.Alton Coleman#388July 17, 1984Three days Alton Coleman was wanted for the murder of 44-year-old Marlene Walters of Norwood, Ohio, among others, during a six-state killing spree in 1984. He was arrested in Evanston, Illinois on July 20, 1984, by local police due to civilian cooperation. He was executed by the state of Ohio on April 26, 2002.Cleveland McKinley Davis#389October 24, 1984Three monthsCleveland McKinley Davis, a.k.a. Jomo Joka Omowale after joining the Black Panthers, was wanted for the attempted robbery and murder of a drug dealer with two other accomplices in Virginia Beach. He was arrested in New York City on January 25, 1985, by FBI agents and local police.
1985