Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021
The International Criminal Police Organization, aka, Interpol, is tasked with bringing to justice the worst criminals in the world. Today we’ll meet the Most Wanted Americans on that list.
10. Jason Derek Brown
Maybe you’ve met this guy and you didn’t even know it, although he might have introduced himself as Derek Brown, or maybe Greg Johnson or Harline Johnson or Greg Harline Johnson. You might have even met him in a French-speaking nation, seeing as he’s fluent in French. He’s also said to be armed and extremely dangerous, so perhaps it’s better you didn’t meet him.
His story is a strange one. For a while, he walked and cycled around France as one of those smartly dressed Mormon missionaries you seem to see in just about every country. On returning to the US, he opened a couple of businesses that he ran out of Utah. There he spent big and pretended to live the life of a wealthy person, although much of his cash came from scams. It seems he must have run out of cash in 2004.
That’s the year he went out and bought a .45 caliber Glock pistol. Shortly after, on November 29 that year, he watched a young, armored car guard named Robert Keith Palomares collect the deposits from the Phoenix AMC theater. It was then that a hooded man, believed to be Brown, unloaded his gun into him, shooting him five times in the head.
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
The gunman then grabbed $56,000 in cash and made a getaway using a bicycle. Fingerprints from the bike pointed to Brown, who was charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery. But where is he? Well, that’s what the FBI and Interpol have been trying to figure out. The FBI knew he drove around the US for a while after he realized he was a wanted man, but then the agency said he became a “ghost.”
The trouble is, he looks a bit like a scraggly-haired surfer dude and there are plenty of them about, so there have been umpteen false sightings of Brown. Even one of Sean Penn’s body doubles was arrested when he was mistaken for Brown. Where this Shaggy lookalike is now is anyone’s guess.
There are theories stating he could have changed his name and be somewhere in a small Mormon community, or he’s currently living in Quebec, Canada, or possibly as far away as France or Thailand. That’s why Interpol has him on its Red Notice List. The FBI is offering a $200,000 reward for the capture of Brown, but as we said, he’s dangerous so shouldn’t be approached. As you’ll see now, some terrible people wanted by Interpol are not exactly in hiding.
9. John Lytus In 2016,
this convicted sex offender was found guilty of aggravated assault and kidnapping in what was an astonishingly violent crime involving a homeless pregnant woman in Florida. He’d been arrested for similar offenses twice in the US in 1986 and 2009. When the judge sentenced him this last time he said, “He's not going to hurt anybody ever again.”
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
He might be in prison in the US, but the reason we told this story is this man is still wanted in Nicaragua, again for violent crimes. Just because you get sentenced in one country doesn’t mean you are off the hook in another, so your name stays on the list. Ok, now for an extremely dangerous man who’s been on the run for a long, long time.
8. William Bradford Bishop Jr.
In 1976, this former United States Foreign Service officer shot and killed his wife, mother, and three sons. Even though he’s now in his 80s if he’s alive and kicking, he’s still called a “dangerous fugitive” by the FBI and is actively being looked for by Interpol. What went wrong with this guy is a bit of a mystery. He was highly educated, gaining a degree at Yale University in his younger years.
He then started working for the US intelligence services and later the US State Department. He was useful, too, seeing as he is fluent in five languages- English, Italian, French, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish. On March 1, 1976, he drew out a load of cash in the town where he lived in Maryland. He then bought a sledgehammer, gas can, a shovel, and a pitchfork.
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
He also took psychiatric medications and had spent some time at a mental institution prior to the murders. The question is, could he still be out there somewhere after all this time? The FBI thinks that’s possible given he is intelligent and very savvy when it comes to outdoor survival.
He has extensive camping and hiking experience in Africa and even flew planes there, so he could quite easily have gone off the grid and survived. He could be in Africa, but with those language skills of his, he could be anywhere. If you think that story is messed up, listen to this one.
7. Leo Frederick Burt
This is the only terrorist on the list, but we should say Interpol is currently looking for quite a few more. We should also point out right now that the majority of wanted people are on the list for sex offenses. Leo Frederick Burt’s case is one that stands out. On August 24, 1970, a bomb went off at the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus and a professor was killed.
Others were injured, too. It was soon discovered that the people behind this crime did it in protest of the university’s military research during the Vietnam War. As many of you know, a lot of folks in the US weren’t happy about that war, and that’s why at the time of the university bombing you would have seen students walking about carrying protest signs that read, “U.S. out of Vietnam! Smash Army Math!”
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
Four people planted the bombs, with three of them eventually being arrested and serving prison terms. Burt was the one that got away. For 50 years authorities have searched high and low for him, following leads that took them from Canada to Costa Rica.
An FBI agent once said, “He’s got to be worried every day that he’s going to slip up and get caught. That’s no way to live.” His life was indeed wrecked after that crime. Once a young journalist with a bright future ahead of him and with a close family he loved, he fell off the face of the planet. Wherever he is, he’s in his 70s and likely not as fast on his feet. The FBI will still give anyone $150,000 for information that leads to his arrest. Now it’s time to put a woman on this list, someone wanted for committing an outrageous crime.
6. Catherine Marie Kerkow
On June 3, 1972, Western Airlines Flight 701, set off from California on its way to Seattle. Aboard were Cathy Kerkow and her army veteran boyfriend Roger Holder. Sometime into the journey, Holder passed a flight attendant a note that read:“ Everyone, except the Captain, will leave the Cabin. There are four of us and two bombs.
Do as you are told and no shooting will happen." He then shows her a briefcase that has a cable attached to it. The demand was for $500,000 in ransom and the release of a political activist named Angela Davis. Kerkow and Holder saw themselves as activists, too, railing against racism in the USA and also the war in Vietnam.
By all accounts, after they dropped off the passengers in San Francisco, the two directed the flight to Algeria and on the way smoked some weed and joined the Mile High Club. Things didn’t go too well there, and the pair left for France, where they were arrested. Holder was extradited to the US, but what happened to Kerkow has remained a mystery.
She’s still wanted on air piracy charges to this day. In 2019, the FBI stated that this woman was “armed and dangerous.” If you meet her, she might be going under the name of Odile Pesse or Janice Ann Forte, but that beautiful face of hers will have changed a bit seeing as she’s now 75. Now for something very different indeed.
5. Lorrie John Trites
This man used to be the head swim coach at a Pennsylvania college, but he was discovered doing something that appalled his students, the college, and just about everyone else who heard about what he’d done. When swimming practice was over, Trites would take videos of teens and women getting changed in the dressing rooms.
Some women saw the camera hidden in towels while they were undressing, so they handed it over to the most respectable person in the vicinity, the man they could trust, coach Trites. He then tried to delete the content, but cops soon knew it was him who had planted the camera. His crime came as a huge shock to the community, given that he had a solid reputation after founding the Trident Aquatic Club in Lancaster County.
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
Sometime later, he left all of his worldly belongings behind and headed to Trinidad. That’s where he might be now, possibly teaching swimming or golf. If you see him, he might be going under the name of Buddy. He’s also hard to miss, given the fact he is six feet seven inches tall.
While he didn’t commit a violent crime, the FBI says he should be considered armed and dangerous. Who knows what a person will do if they think the jig is up.The next guy on the list was a cop himself, so understandably he doesn’t want to go to prison.
4. Al Gurkan In 2005,
Gurkan was charged with the crime of stealing drugs from dealers on the streets while he was on the job as a police officer. No sooner than he was charged, he vanished. His last known address was in Hollywood, California, but his present address is a mystery. The FBI seems to think he might be in Turkey.
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
For stealing heroin, cocaine, and marijuana with a couple of accomplices, he faces charges of drug conspiracy, possession with intent to deliver narcotics, and possession of a firearm while dealing narcotics. It was a simple setup the guys had. The accomplices would call up a dealer and say they wanted to buy a fairly large amount of drugs.
When the exchange was about to happen, guess who would turn up and do a traffic stop? Gurkan. They all then sold the drugs and shared the spoils. As you’ll see now, just as in that case, a lot of regular street crimes make their way onto Interpol’s list.
3. Jason Liu
Like many young guys in the US, Liu made the sometimes fatal mistake of thinking it would be a good idea to join a street gang and make mortal enemies of other gangs. That got serious on September 13, 2000, in Fullerton, California, when he and some others in his gang decided to go head-to-head with a rival gang.
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
This was over an argument that had taken place between two rival gang members in a bar. Liu and his buddies were driving when they spotted the other gang. It was reportedly Liu who then shouted the words, “Blast them.”
That happened and it ended with one young man dead, and three others injured. Liu’s buddies got some serious time in prison after that, but he’s still on the run. It’s thought he might be in South Korea or Taiwan. Now back to someone who has made it onto the FBI’s top ten most wanted people in America.
2. Robert William Fisher
This guy once belonged to the United States Navy. He tried to become a Navy SEAL, but after failing, he made his way in life with some decent jobs, such as stints as a firefighter and respiratory therapist. Fisher had a problem, though, and that was his controlling attitude towards his wife and children. He even gave his son a hard time because he didn’t like to hunt or fish, as he did.
A church-going man, from the outside, things looked fine, but to people that knew him, he was a mess. Psychologists later said that childhood trauma over his parents’ divorce and the fact his wife was going to divorce him sent him over the edge. A long way over he went, too, when in 2001 he killed his wife and two children and blew up his house.
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
He then vanished. Since he was a skilled outdoorsman it was thought for a while he was hiding out in forested areas in Arizona or perhaps even living in caves. His truck was soon found near Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, and he was spotted nearby by some walkers.
In 2002, he got on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List and a $100,000 reward was offered for any information that might lead to an arrest, but even though police received hundreds upon hundreds of tip-offs, Fisher either remained out in the wilderness or started a new life somewhere.
Given his survival skills, he could be in a remote part of the US or Canada, but even with those skills, it would be a longshot if he were still living without cash to his name in the back of beyond. On the FBI’s website, it states that if he is still alive he will no doubt be heavily armed, so approaching him would not be something anyone should do. This last wanted man has to be the oldest guy ever to make the list, so even if he’s caught we doubt he’ll ever serve much of his 280-year sentence.
1. Prakashanand Saraswati
This man offered people spiritual enlightenment, and as so often can be the case with powerful gurus who take people under their God-like wings, they exploit people’s trust, and do something terrible. In the 60 and 70s, Saraswati spent much of his time wandering alone in far-off regions in the Himalayas, finding himself in forests learning how to devote his life to eternal love and spirituality.
When he emerged from out of nowhere, he started the “Society of Divine Love” in India in 1975. He wrote books, including “The Philosophy of Divine Love” and opened centers to teach such love around the world. One of the centers became the largest Hindu Temple in the USA, complete with an ashram on a huge plot of land.
That’s still there, but it has distanced itself from its founder after he was charged with using his power to take advantage of some of the younger female members who stayed there. They came forward when they were adults and what they said ended with the courts convicting Saraswati of 20 offenses. He was subsequently sentenced to 280 years in prison.
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| Most Wanted Americans by Interpol - 2021 |
Except he didn’t spend one day in prison because he didn’t even show up for his trial. This was back in 2011 when he was 82-years old. This man said to be able to live in a state of “conscious ecstasy”, a man that can reach higher planes than the rest of us, was also capable of magically gliding through the hands of law enforcement.
He might have made some people believe he could elevate them above their day-to-day state of consciousness, but when push came to shove, he was also able to make very down to Earth plans with his followers to sneak into Mexico and somehow get over to India.
He’s one of the few people on this list the FBI doesn’t say is armed and dangerous, and at 92 it’s a miracle he’s still on the loose. According to US authorities, the reason the “fondling guru” is able to remain on the run is his dedicated devotees. The US Marshall’s office said, “There are people that we've talked to who are devoted followers of his and they will sacrifice criminal charges and prosecution to help his flight.
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