Astonishing update in hunt for fugitive who escaped Oregon state prison 30 years ago
A wanted fugitive who was captured 30 years ago after escaping from an Oregon prison went undetected for decades, assuming the identity of a dead child.
Steven Craig Johnson, now 70, escaped from Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem, Oregon, on November 29, 1994, after being arrested on suspicion of three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of attempted first-degree sodomy.
According to the US government, Johnson is described as a “pedophile” who “presents a significant opportunity to victimize pre-teen boys.” Oregon Department of Corrections.
He was arrested around 2 p.m. Tuesday at an apartment complex in Macon, Georgia, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force said.
After further investigation, authorities discovered that Johnson had been living at the complex since 2011 under the name William Cox. He was a child who died in January 1962 in Texas.
Steven Craig Johnson, now 70, escaped from Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem, Oregon on November 29, 1994. (Pictured: Johnson in his 1990s arrest photo)
He was arrested around 2 p.m. Tuesday at an apartment complex in Macon, Georgia. Authorities discovered he had stolen the identity of William Cox, a child who died in Texas in January 1962. (Photo: Johnson’s 2024 arrest photo)
Johnson was able to obtain a copy of the deceased child’s birth certificate and in 1995 he was issued a Social Security card in Texas. Three years later he was issued a Georgia driver’s license, the agency said.
The U.S. Marshals Service took over Johnson’s case in 2015, saying the agency had “developed and pursued multiple leads.”
In 2019, the Oregon Department of Correction issued a wanted notice for Johnson, describing him as someone who “should not have contact with children.”
According to the agency, he was listed as one of Oregon’s most wanted fugitives. website.
Johnson, who was wanted on a warrant for escape, is being held in the Bibb County Jail in Georgia and will be extradited to Oregon.
The Mill Creek Correctional Facility (pictured) was closed in 2021 amid then-Governor Kate Brown’s efforts to reform sentencing.
The Mill Creek Correctional Facility was closed in 2021 due to sentencing reforms under then-Governor Kate Brown, the department said.
The Associated Press It was previously reported that Brown decided to close the prison to save the state more than $44 million.
She decided to do this to “reduce the state’s reliance on incarceration” and instead invest in preventing people from entering the criminal justice system.
The state prison opened in 1929 as the Farm Annex of the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Until 1998, “inmates processed milk from a farm cooperative near McMinnville for use by other state agencies,” Oregon Historical Society reported.
The 2,089-person minimum-security prison, located five miles southeast of Salem, “housed approximately 290 adults in custody who were scheduled for release within four years,” the department said.