we saw that...

richard lee mcnair spotted in canada

**updated 7:47 am cdt tuesday 11 july 2006
McNair still out there; search hasn't gone cold
By Mandy M. Goodnight
mgoodnight@thetowntalk.com
(318) 487-6465
click here to read this article from the alexandria, louisiana daily town talk website.

Fugitive Richard Lee McNair has been on the loose for a little more than three months, but his case is anything but cold -- thanks to the convicted killer, himself.

McNair, who escaped April 5 from the U.S. Penitentiary in Pollock, stopped to talk with a Ball police officer soon after his escape and was filmed by the officer's in-car camera. He shook hands with Officer Carl Bordelon before going on his way.

Later that month, he sat at a table drinking a beer at the Coyote Ugly bar in San Antonio and was filmed by the bar's cameras.
Also in April, a letter sent to McNair's mother in Oklahoma was sent from Corpus Christi, Texas.

Then in May, the 47-year-old left behind pictures of himself after he fled from officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who had stopped him in a stolen vehicle in British Columbia.

"There have been some close calls," said Glenn Belgard with the U.S. Marshals Service's office in Alexandria. "It is a matter of time before he makes mistakes or someone stumbles upon him."

McNair's escape in April terrorized Central Louisiana, particularly Rapides and Grant parishes, as residents waited at bus stops or slept with guns. Some even barricaded their houses.

Schools kept students inside until it was confirmed that McNair was not in the Tioga and Ball areas of Rapides Parish.

The last confirmed sighting of McNair was in British Columbia, Canada, said Belgard, who insisted the search isn't cold, because authorities continue to receive leads.

Constable Donna Spyrka with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the law-enforcement organization has received telephone calls regularly from the public of potential sightings, but nothing confirmed since April.

Authorities cannot confirm whether McNair remains in Canada or has moved back to the United States or elsewhere, Spyrka said.

The U.S. Marshals continue to work with the Mounted Police in the search for McNair. The Canadian authorities notified residents in May to be on the lookout for McNair and not to try to apprehend him.

The U.S. Marshals Service continues to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to McNair's capture.

Belgard said the more exposure given to McNair, the better the chance of finding him. McNair has been portrayed on CNN and "America's Most Wanted" as well as in newspapers throughout the country.

The problem has been that this isn't McNair's first escape. It is his third.

After one escape, McNair filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the FBI file on how they tracked him during the escape, Belgard said.

"He is learning from his mistakes," Belgard said.

As to whether it is harder now to find McNair than when he first escaped in April is hard to say, Belgard said.

As time passes, McNair could let his guard down, Belgard said.

McNair's many cameos
McNair hasn't been connected to any violent crimes since his escape but has been linked to break-ins and at least one stolen vehicle, Belgard said.

It doesn't make him any less dangerous, because he has killed in the past to elude capture and should be considered dangerous, authorities said.

This is why local authorities took the escape seriously and began a manhunt.

McNair, who worked at the prison mending mailbags, escaped by hiding under a pile of them.

Once word got out, law enforcement was on the lookout.

Bordelon was the person who got the closest to McNair locally.

He stopped McNair near the railroad tracks at Gilly Williams Road in Ball on the same day he escaped. He checked McNair's description with what had been handed out to law enforcement and at one point told McNair he was matching up with the suspect.

McNair told Bordelon he was doing roofing work and had been dropped off to jog. He didn't have any identification and said he was staying in a hotel.

Bordelon let McNair go with a handshake.

Ball officials stuck by Bordelon and said he did not have enough information to positively match McNair to the man he had stopped.

No action was taken against Bordelon, and he remains on the job. Efforts to reach Ball Mayor Roy Hebron for comment were unsuccessful.

With the recording of Bordelon's encounter, law enforcement had an idea of what McNair looked like. For days, the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshals and other law-enforcement agencies searched by air and land, following up on the hundreds of calls received reporting a McNair sighting.

The more than 1,000 hours of searching cost the Sheriff's Office an estimated $90,000 in overtime and time off for officers, not including fuel and equipment costs, said Debbie Hickman, a Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"We were not stopping our search until it was confirmed he was no longer in the area," Sheriff's Lt. Clay Brister said. "We owed it to the citizens of Rapides Parish."

Grant Parish also took part in the search around the prison and into Rapides Parish. Sheriff's Chief Deputy Preston Mosley said the department used officers on duty and that some volunteered their time to help in the search.

As to the federal prison, it was its first escape -- and the first time any inmate had escaped from a federal maximum-security prison in 13 years.

Donna Mott, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman, said the Pollock prison reviewed operational procedures and made enhancements to ensure there was not a repeat of the McNair escape.

Talk of McNair having help in his escape remains just that. Mott said some aspects of the escape remain under investigation, and officials do not talk about ongoing investigations.

In the days following McNair's escape, the prison did hold an annual meeting with area law-enforcement agencies, including Ball and the U.S. Marshals. The meeting's intent was to enhance communication, with the possibility of additional meetings.

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.

Originally published July 11, 2006

**updated**10:42 pm cdt friday 23 june 2006
canadian police are still looking hard for richard lee mcnair:

Alberta Daily Herald Tribune - Grande Prairie,Alberta,Canada

Life's Like That

Not wanted in Lethbridge after all

LETHBRIDGE (CP) - This is one pit stop an Ohio man will remember for a long time.

The unidentified man stopped Thursday at a gas station in southern Alberta and was surrounded by police who believed he was an escaped convict serving time for three murders in the United States.

But it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, said Lethbridge Const. Luke Patterson.

The man was on his way back from an Alaskan holiday when he stopped at a Turbo gas station in Lethbridge.

Several police cars surrounded his motorhome and police ordered him to come out with his hands up. He did, and they took him into custody.

An hour later, police apologized, returned him to his motorhome and sent him on his way.

Patterson said once they had the man in custody, it didn't take long to realize they had the wrong man.

Patterson said the man closely resembles Richard Lee McNair, one of the U.S. Marshals' most wanted.

McNair, a 47-year-old white male, escaped from the U.S. penitentiary in Pollock, La., while serving three life sentences for murder and burglary.
**updated 1:41 pm cdt sunday 18 june 2006
there hasnt been any new news about richard lee mcnair via our google news alert since 06th june 2006. as of today richard lee mcnair has been on the run for 74 days. if you wish to create your own google news alert for richard lee mcnair do so by clicking here.
**updated** 7:25 am cdt tuesday 06 june 2006
see also In for Life? Not Him from the los angeles times

the globe and mail

Escaped killer on the run in Alberta, Mounties say
Profiled on America's Most Wanted, RCMP consider him armed and dangerous

DAWN WALTON

CALGARY -- A convicted killer who escaped from a U.S. maximum security prison in April and surfaced in British Columbia a few weeks later may be on the run in Alberta, RCMP said yesterday.

Mounties have a strong indication that Richard Lee McNair, who is on the U.S. marshals' most-wanted list, may have been in Kananaskis, a Rocky Mountain resort area west of Calgary, between May 21-24, and may still be in the province.

But beyond that, police provided few other details.

"We don't want to tip our hand as to why we feel this person may be in Alberta," RCMP Corporal Al Fraser said.

Police will not say whether the 47-year-old fugitive was spotted in Kananaskis or if he is suspected of committing crimes in Alberta.

Police urged people to call 911 if they spot him. They did not provide information on the type of vehicle he may be travelling in, nor where he might be headed.

"This is a dangerous person," Cpl. Fraser said. "The U.S. marshals want him really badly."

The U.S. government is offering a $25,000 (U.S.) reward for tips that lead to his capture.

Mr. McNair, who is originally from Oklahoma, was serving three life sentences for murder, attempted murder and burglary when he slipped away from a penitentiary in Pollock, La., on April 5.

It was the first jailbreak from such a facility in the United States in 15 years, and it was a cunning escape.

Mr. McNair was an employee in the prison factory fixing damaged mailbags when he built a small case on a mail pallet, hid himself among repaired sacks and effectively mailed himself outside the prison walls.

He had escaped from a North Dakota county jail in 1988 when he used a stick of lip balm to grease his hands and slip out of handcuffs, leading police on a brief foot chase. He fled another prison in the same state in 1992 by squeezing through a ventilation duct.

When he was captured 10 months later, he was placed in the higher security facility in Louisiana.

He is a martial arts expert, in good physical shape, may be armed and is a smooth talker who has conned police before, officials said.

After his escape in April, he was walking along railway tracks not far from the Louisiana prison when he was questioned by a police officer. The officer believed his story about being out for a jog and let him go.

In late April, he was spotted south of Penticton, B.C., after a routine licence plate check turned up a stolen vehicle from Surrey, B.C. When police questioned the driver, he ran. Police couldn't keep up.

It wasn't until the next day when Mr. McNair was featured on America's Most Wanted that police realized who they had encountered.

A check of fingerprints on the car confirmed that it was Mr. McNair.

He was convicted in 1987 of slaying truck driver Jerry Theiss near Minot, N.D.


Sat, June 3, 2006

Fugitive reportedly hit K-Country

UPDATED: 2006-06-03 02:36:40 MST

By SHAWN LOGAN, CALGARY SUN

Still on the lam from U.S. marshals, an escaped killer who appeared on America's Most Wanted is believed to have been in the Kananaskis area last week, Mounties said yesterday.

Cpl. Al Fraser said while Richard Lee McNair, a convicted murderer, was not actually seen in the wilderness area west of Calgary, RCMP have a "strong indication," the fugitive was in K-country between May 21 and 24.

"We don't want to tip our hand to what we know, but we want to tell the public that that person may have been in Kananaskis," Fraser said.

"It's not a fishing expedition, this is (a message for people to) be aware."

He said it took more than a week to get the information to the public because with the number of law enforcement agencies involved, Mounties wanted to "take the time to verify."

McNair, 47, was put on the U.S. marshals' 15 most-wanted list after he escaped from a federal penitentiary in Pollock, La., in April by hiding under a pallet of bags inside a mail truck.

He was spotted by an astute Mountie in Penticton, B.C., on April 28 who noticed the driver of a stolen car matched the description of a man he saw on America's Most Wanted.

The driver fled, but fingerprints left behind confirmed it was McNair.

Fraser, meanwhile, said it is now believed McNair has come to Alberta, but details of his exact whereabouts remain sketchy.

"We don't know what the person's intent is, where he may be going or what mode of transportation he could be using," Fraser said.

McNair, who was serving three life sentences for murder, attempted murder and burglary in North Dakota, has escaped from prison three times since his first murder conviction in 1987.

The martial arts expert is considered armed and dangerous and is described by authorities as extremely intelligent.

Fraser said if someone sees him, they should not approach him and call police immediately.

McNair is 6-ft., 210 lb. with brown hair and blue eyes. He might have a goatee and glasses.

U.S. marshals are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.



Fugitive believed to have fled Penticton for Cariboo Chilcotin


By TRACY CLARK
News Staff Reporter
May 31 2006

An American fugitive who was in Penticton last month, may now be in the Cariboo Chilcotin.

Richard Lee McNair, a convicted murderer who escaped from a U.S. penitentiary in Louisiana on April 5, was spotted near Anahim Lake and Bella Coola between May 19 and 23, said Cpl. Rick Dellebuur from the Penticton RCMP.

McNair managed to escape police capture in Penticton on April 28, when he was spotted driving a stolen car near Skaha Lake.

Local RCMP have since received nearly 100 tips from residents who reportedly saw McNair in the Okanagan.

There is a Canada-wide warrant for McNair, who had been serving three life sentences for the murder of a trucker. He is also on the U.S. marshal’s top 15 list of America’s most wanted criminals and was featured on the television show America’s Most Wanted.

The U.S. marshal’s service is offering a $25,000 reward for information about McNair that may lead to an arrest.

McNair, a former U.S. Air Force sergeant who is trained in martial arts, is considered dangerous. If spotted, he should not be approached, cautioned Dellebuur, adding that anyone who sees McNair should call their local police department or Crime Stoppers.

Richard Lee McNair & Ball La., Police Video

Federal Prisoner Escapes from the Pollock Prison

click the link to view the story from the alexandria, louisiana, daily town talks' website.


U.S. most wanted fugitive spotted in British Columbia
Last Updated Fri, 05 May 2006 22:39:21 EDT
CBC News

One of the most wanted fugitives in the United States has been spotted in British Columbia.

Richard Lee McNair was in a stolen car pulled over in Penticton last Friday, police say. However, he fled from the car before RCMP officers could catch him.

Police say fingerprints from the impounded car, along with photos on a digital camera, confirmed it was the 47-year-old McNair.

Considered armed and dangerous, McNair is one of the U.S. Marshals' 15 most wanted. He was serving three life sentences for murder and burglary before he escaped from a U.S. penitentiary in Pollack, La., in April.

He is trained in martial arts and should not be approached, police warn.

A report on the website for the television program America's Most Wanted says McNair escaped by way of his prison job, which was repairing torn mailbags. He hid in a large pile of repaired mailbags, which was taken to a nearby unguarded warehouse, said the report.

click here to view this story from the cbc (canadian) website.

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