Florida arrests fugitive from Kansas from 1977

A man who escaped a Kansas military prison in 1977 was arrested Thursday when he showed up to work in Florida.

James Robert Jones, 59, was convicted of premeditated murder and aggravated assault in 1974, when he was a private in the U.S. Army. Three years later, he managed to escape imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth, where he was serving a 23-year sentence.

Jones, who had lived in Deerfield Beach under the alias Bruce Walter Keith since at least 2005, used a fake Florida driver's license since 1981 and his mother's birthday with his real birth year.

U.S. Marshals, who the Army asked for help in January, found Jones by running his old prison picture through a facial recognition database.

"He stated that he knew this would catch up with him one day," said Barry Golden of the Marshals Service. "After all these years, the first words out of his mouth was, 'I knew this would catch up with me one day.'"

Marshals followed Jones from his home to his work in Pompano Beach Thursday morning and arrested him without incident when he arrived.

Jones was booked at the Broward County Main Jail on a military hold and will remain there until the U.S. Army takes custody.

[NBC Miami]