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[h=4]Fugitive nabbed after 56 years on the run[/h]Frank Freshwaters, known to his neighbors as William Cox, escaped in 1959.
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An Ohio man was arrested in Melbourne 56 years after he escaped from custody in 1959. He was originally incarcerated at the famous Shawshank State Prison. Video by Emre Kelly. Posted May 5, 2015.
Left: Freshwater in 1959. Right: Freshwater in a May 2015 mugshot.(Photo: Brevard County Sheriff's Office)
MELBOURNE, Fla. — Frank Freshwaters' long run at freedom came to an end with a knock on his door.
It was then that the gray-bearded man living under the alias of William Cox in an old trailer home tucked away in the wild lands just west of Melbourne stared ahead at an officer with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office GAMEOVER Task Force.
The deputy held up a black and white picture of a fresh-faced 23-year-old and asked Cox if he had ever seen the young man.
"He looked at the picture then told them, 'I haven't seen him in a long while,'" said Maj. Tod Goodyear, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.
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The deputy then asked the question that everyone knew the answer to.
"He said to him, 'It's you isn't it?' And that was it. He's been living the retired life and was getting Social Security benefits, I believe under his alias. He's been living under that alias for years," Goodyear said.
The 79-year-old man led away in handcuffs was a fugitive. Authorities say he escaped from the Sandusky, Ohio, Honor Farm in 1959.
His real name: Frank Freshwaters, an inmate who once stayed at the Ohio State Reformatory, the infamous state prison featured in the movie Shawshank Redemption.
"He admitted who he was and owned up to everything," U.S. Marshal Pete Elliot said when reached at his Ohio office. Three months ago, Elliot, whose federal jurisdiction is northern Ohio, formed a cold-case unit and quickly turned up information on Freshwaters.
"He's been in Florida for several decades. He probably tried to go as far south as he could," Elliot said.
Ohio authorities said Freshwaters, then 21 and married, struck and killed 24-year-old Eugene Flynt with his vehicle on July 3, 1957, in Akron. Documents released by Elliot's office show that Freshwaters was traveling more than 50 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Freshwaters, a painter by profession, was indicted on second-degree manslaughter charges. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was given five years of probation with a suspended sentence of one to 20 years, records show. In Feb. 1959, Freshwaters was charged with violating his probation and sent to the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. Later, authorities said, he charmed prison officials, gaining their trust as a model inmate.
He was sent to the Sandusky Honor Farm, where he escaped on Sept. 30,1959.
Goodyear said the man told sheriff's agents that he had been on the lam since escaping in 1959, settling down in Melbourne and earning a living driving a truck before he retired.
“When he went to prison, Elvis was in his heyday. There was black-and-white television.”
Maj. Tod Goodyear, spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office
Tuesday, Freshwaters was expected to go before a judge at the Brevard County Jail Complex, where he will be held on a fugitive from justice warrant. He will then be extradited to Ohio to face an escape charge.
"That's a long time to be in hiding," Goodyear said. "Over half a century. When he went to prison, Elvis was in his heyday. There was black-and-white television. It's an interesting case."
Shirl Cheetham, 34, of Palm Bay said she had known Freshwaters — or William Cox as she knew him — for nearly 15 years. She's heard his jokes, listened to him play guitar and even went hunting with him. She also says the man her children call "Grandpa Will" was the best man at her 2012 wedding.
"He is just the sweetest man. ... I'm shell-shocked. After all this time, how he managed to keep from getting caught. He stayed out of trouble all this time," Cheetham, adding that she does not plan to tell her children about the arrest just yet. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."
Cheetham said Freshwaters attended West Melbourne Community Church from time to time and volunteered in a thrift store.
"This is someone who loved to laugh. I honestly think they should let him go," she said.
Elliot was asked about Freshwaters' time on the run and the feasibility of searching for a 79-year-old man who escaped prison over five decades before.
"That's not for us to decide. The bottom line is our job is to catch the person and bring him or her to court," Elliot said.
"We have an obligation to do that."
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