Federal authorities announced Friday the capture of a convicted murderer who spent nearly 50 years on the run after escaping custody at a funeral.
Leonard Rayne Moses was convicted of first degree murder for the 1968 killing of Mary Amplo after he and a group of friends reportedly fire-bombed the victims house during the Philadelphia protests after after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the Associated Press (AP) reported. He was 16 at the time.
Moses was sentenced to life without parole, but escaped while attending his grandmother’s funeral in 1971. Authorities said he was working as a traveling pharmacist in Michigan, going by the name of Paul Dickinson, according to the AP. (RELATED: Convicted Rapist Reportedly Assumed New Identity, Arrested 44 Years Later)
FBI Pittsburgh Announces Arrest of Wanted Fugitive Nearly 50 Years After His Escape from Custody: The FBI and the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office announce the arrest of wanted fugitive Leonard Rayne Moses. https://t.co/cwDVReyGYs
— FBI Pittsburgh (@FBIPittsburgh) November 13, 2020
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Moses hit their radar, when his fingerprints popped up in a database, after he was charged earlier in 2020 for stealing prescription drugs at one of the pharmacies where he worked, the report continued. Moses was arrested at his home in Grand Blanc, Michigan, according to Special Agent in Charge Michael Christman, per the AP.
“I hope this arrest brings some closure to the family members of Mary Amplo, who was killed back in 1968,” Christman said in an FBI press release. “Mr. Moses will now have to face justice for her murder.”
Moses is being held in Genesee County, Michigan Jail.