FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

On May 19, 1996, Leslie Isben Rogge became the first person on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list to be apprehended due to the Internet.

The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William Kinsey Hutchinson,^[1] International News Service (the predecessor of the United Press International) editor-in-chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the FBI's "toughest guys". This discussion turned into a published article, which received so much positive publicity that on March 14, 1950, the FBI officially announced the list to increase law enforcement's ability to capture dangerous fugitives.^[2]

Individuals are generally only removed from the list if the fugitive is captured, dies, or if the charges against them are dropped; they are then replaced by a new entry selected by the FBI. In nine cases, the FBI removed individuals from the list after deciding that they were no longer a "particularly dangerous menace to society". Machetero member Víctor Manuel Gerena, added to the list in 1984, was on the list for 32 years, which was longer than anyone else.^[1] Billie Austin Bryant spent the shortest amount of time on the list, being listed for two hours in 1969.^[3] The oldest person to be added to the list was William Bradford Bishop on April 10, 2014 at 77 years old. On rare occasions, the FBI will add a "Number Eleven" if that individual is extremely dangerous but the Bureau does not feel any of the current ten should be removed.^[4] Despite occasional references in the media, the FBI does not rank their list; no suspect is considered "#1 on the FBI's Most Wanted List" or "The Most Wanted."^[1]

The list is commonly posted in public places such as post offices. In some cases, fugitives on the list have turned themselves in on becoming aware of their listing. As of December 4, 2014, 504 fugitives have been listed, eight of them women, and 473 (94%) captured or located, 155 (31%) of them due to public assistance. On May 19, 1996,^[5] Leslie Isben Rogge became the first person on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list to be apprehended due to the internet.^[6] The FBI maintains other lists of individuals, including the Most Wanted Terrorists,^[7] along with crime alerts, missing persons, and other fugitive lists.

On June 17, 2013, the list reached the quantity of 500 fugitives.^[8]

New additions

The Criminal Investigative Division (CID) at FBI Headquarters calls upon all 56 Field Offices to submit candidates for the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list.^[9] The nominees received are reviewed by Special Agents in the CID and the Office of Public Affairs.^[9] The selection of the "proposed" candidate(s) is forwarded to the Assistant Director of the CID for his/her approval and then to the FBI's Director for final approval.^[9] This process takes some time which is why James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr., who was arrested in Santa Monica, California on June 22, 2011,^[10] remained on the list until May 9, 2012^[11] despite no longer being at large. Osama bin Laden similarly remained on the list for almost a year after his death at the hands of U.S. forces on May 2, 2011.^[12]

List as of May 29, 2017

Rewards are offered for information leading to capture of fugitives on the list; the reward is $100,000 for all fugitives, with the exception of Jason Derek Brown, which is $200,000.

Nine of the ten still at large are believed – or known – to be living outside the United States.

Photo	Name	Date added	Sequence number	Comments
	Robert William Fisher	June 29, 2002	475	Fisher is wanted for the 2001 murder of his wife Mary and their two children, Robert, Jr. and Brittney, and then blowing up the Scottsdale, Arizona house in which they lived. Investigators believe that Robert Fisher murdered his family because he felt threatened by his wife's intent to divorce.[13][14]
	Alexis Flores	June 2, 2007	487	Flores is wanted for the kidnapping, rape and murder of five-year-old Iriana DeJesus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in July 2000. He was deported to his native Honduras in 2005 after serving a prison term for forgery in Arizona. He was added to the list after deportation when his DNA was matched to the DeJesus crime.[15][16]
	Jason Derek Brown	December 8, 2007	489	Brown is wanted for murder and armed robbery in Phoenix, Arizona. Authorities allege that in November 2004, Brown shot and killed an armored car guard outside a movie theater and fled on a bicycle with $56,000 in a duffel bag. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $200,000 for information leading to Brown's capture.[17][18] Authorities believe that he may have fled the country and could be living in France or Thailand.[19]
	Eduardo Ravelo	October 21, 2009	493	Ravelo is wanted for his alleged involvement in racketeering activities, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and conspiracy to possess heroin, cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute. His alleged criminal activities began in 2003.[20] Ravelo is believed to be hiding with his wife and children in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.[21]
	William Bradford Bishop, Jr.	April 10, 2014	502	Bishop is wanted for killing his mother, wife and three children in 1976 at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. It is believed that following the murders, he drove to Columbia, North Carolina to dispose of the bodies and ditched his car at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and disappeared. Bishop is believed to be hiding in plain sight in Europe or somewhere in the United States.
	Yaser Abdel Said	December 4, 2014	504	Said is wanted for the double murders of his two daughters in Irving, Texas. The crime occurred on January 1, 2008. The FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for any information that leads to Said's capture.
	Luis Macedo	May 19, 2016	507	Macedo, a member of the Latin Kings gang in Chicago is wanted in the murder of a 15-year-old boy in Chicago on May 1, 2009. The boy was supposedly murdered because he did not give a gang sign. The boy's body was set on fire, allegedly by his fellow Latin Kings members. Macedo supposedly ordered the attack.
	Robert Francis Van Wisse (surrendered)	December 13, 2016	511	Van Wisse is accused of murdering a 22-year-old woman in an office building in Austin, Texas, on September 20, 1983. The victim was sexually assaulted and strangled.[22][23] He surrendered to U.S. officials in Laredo, Texas at the Mexican border on January 26, 2017.[24]
	Walter Yovany Gomez	April 12, 2017	513	Gomez is wanted for his alleged involvement in a gang killing in Plainfield, New Jersey on May 8, 2011. According to the FBI, he is a member of the MS-13 gang and he, along with another gang member, attacked and killed a man who was "suspected of socializing with a rival gang and had been ordered to be killed by MS-13 leaders". Gomez is a Honduran citizen who was in the U.S. illegally, but the FBI believes he is still in the U.S.[25][26]
	Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel	April 18, 2017	514	Patel allegedly stabbed and killed his wife in a doughnut shop in Hanover, Maryland on April 12, 2015. He was last seen taking a shuttle to Penn Station in Newark. According to authorities, he has connections to Canada, India, New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia and Illinois.[27][28]

See also

• Former FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
• FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
• List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords
• Specially Designated Global Terrorist
• The World's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, a list published by Forbes
• U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitives

References

External links

Media related to FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Ten most wanted fugitives list is turning 65 years old
• Additional information from America's Most Wanted