LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A convicted murderer who escaped from a California prison camp over three decades ago has been recaptured thanks to a clue gleaned from his dying mother, authorities said on Monday.
William Walter Asher III, 66, was taken into custody without incident at a home in the Northern California town of Salida on Friday, FBI spokesman Steve Dupre said.
Asher, who was sentenced in 1967 to seven years to life in prison after a fatal bar robbery, had been on the run since an accomplice helped him escape from a Northern California prison camp in 1975.
The trail had gone cold until 2005, when authorities learned that, on her death bed, Asher's mother had asked family members for help in contacting her son via a secret number, Dupre said.
Agents using phone records tracked two phone calls to a residence in Salida, where Asher was living under the assumed name of Garry Donald Webb, Dupre said.
California fugitive arrested after 36 years: FBI
