Transcript

The Craziest Escapes: 3 Unstoppable Fugitives Caught By The FBI

From The FBI Files · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 2 h 29 min · 18,894 words · 441 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The Craziest Escapes: 3 Unstoppable Fugitives Caught By The FBI", an episode of The FBI Files published November 28, 2025 (2 h 29 min, about 18,894 words). It mentions 30 people, works and ideas, including Bradley Martin, FBI, Guy Goodman, Donna Martz, Palmyra, Pennsylvania.

What this episode is about

The main topic revolves around the investigation of two dangerous fugitives who escape from prison with the assistance of an accomplice, evading law enforcement by leaving a trail of fraud and violence across state lines. The narrative details the relentless efforts of the FBI and police to track them down amidst the grim discovery of a murder scene that underscores the urgency of their capture.

Key takeaways

  • In a world of high-tech manhunts, criminals are still tripped up by old-fashioned mistakes.
  • Community trust shatters fast when crime creeps into small towns—everyone knew the victim.
  • Murder in Palmyra, a town with fewer than three homicides a year, shatters peace like a glass vase.
  • When your escape plan hinges on a girlfriend, keep an eye on those credit card receipts.
  • Forensics: the detective's best friend, transforming chaotic crime scenes into pathways toward justice.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 15:00: Guy Goodman, Bradley Martin, American Express, Lebanon County
  2. – 30:00: Donna Martz, Guy Goodman, Bradley Martin, North Dakota
  3. – 45:00: Bradley Martin, Donna Martz, North Dakota, Michael Weman
  4. – 1:00:00: Eugene Smalls, Donna Martz, James Springette, Shaim Gabriel
  5. – 1:15:00: James Springette, St. Thomas, Augusta, Georgia, Eugene Smalls
  6. – 1:30:00: James Springette, Augusta, Georgia, St. Thomas, Christopher Jabberk
  7. – 1:45:00: Augusta, Georgia, Savannah River, James Springette, Jim Calstrom
  8. – 2:00:00: Augusta, Georgia
  9. – 2:15:00: Augusta, Georgia, Christopher Jabberk
  10. – 2:28:53: New Jersey (Jersey), New York, New York, Virginia

Notable quotes from "The Craziest Escapes: 3 Unstoppable Fugitives Caught By The FBI"

  • In Pennsylvania, an inmate escaped with the help of his female accomplice.
    about Palmyra, Pennsylvania · at
  • I just entered him as a wanted person charging him with the escape from the county prison. So, I knew he was on the run.
    about Bradley Martin · at
  • Detective Weman asks American Express Global Security in New York to help.
    about American Express · at
  • The detectives fear Martin and King have grabbed Donna Martz.
    about Donna Martz · at
  • The FBI and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation set up a task force which was joined by other agencies including the Bismar Police Department and the local.
    about FBI · at
  • The coroner for Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, determined that retired florist Guy Goodman was savagely beaten and then slowly suffocated to death. His face was.
    about Guy Goodman · at
  • Starting in the early 90s, a drug gang called the Island Boys shipped thousands of kilos of cocaine into the US through the Virgin Islands.
    about Augusta, Georgia · at
  • His passenger, James Springette, was carrying a passport from the US Virgin Islands.
    about James Springette · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Bradley Martin — Person · Primary suspect / fugitive (case subject) · 16 mentions · first at
    Identified via fingerprints as a suspect in Guy Goodman's murder; later pursued cross-country with Carolyn King and linked to Donna Martz's kidnapping/murder.
  • Guy Goodman — Person · Homicide victim (case catalyst) · 15 mentions · first at
    74-year-old victim whose murder triggers the investigation; his stolen American Express card and checks provide the electronic trail used to track the suspects.
  • Donna Martz — Person · Kidnapping victim (secondary homicide victim) · 14 mentions · first at
    Abducted in North Dakota and held while suspects used her credit card; later murdered, driving urgency and multi-agency coordination.
  • James Springette — Person · Referenced criminal leader (separate segment subject) · 10 mentions · first at
    Identified as a major drug trafficker tied to the 'Island Boys' organization; later pursued internationally and placed on the FBI Top Ten list (per narration).
  • Paul Zechman — Person · Lead investigator (county detective) · 1 mention · first at
    Lebanon County detective who leads the Goodman homicide investigation and participates in the multi-state pursuit of Martin and King.
    Pennsylvania Detective Paul Zman chased the pair from the beginning of their flight.
  • Eugene Smalls — Person · Referenced criminal figure (drug operation leader) · 6 mentions · first at
    Runs the Augusta operation for the Island Boys; his activities and relocation/arrest are key steps in the drug-trafficking segment.
    There are rumors he keeps a million dollars in cash in his safety deposit box.
  • Michael Weman — Person · Police chief / investigator (local authority) · 4 mentions · first at
    Palmyra police chief who provides community context about Guy Goodman and participates in identification and investigative steps.
    Detective Weman asks American Express Global Security in New York to help.
  • Jim Calstrom — Person · Host / narrator (on-camera expert) · 3 mentions · first at
    Introduces and narrates multiple segments as a former FBI executive, framing investigations and law-enforcement perspective.
    Card receipts and death, authorities track the pair, but always find themselves one step behind. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. The FBI and police…
  • Jim Cowstrom — Person · Host · 1 mention · first at
    Narrator and former head of the FBI's New York office providing context and analysis.
    For ruthless and sophisticated drug traffickers, it is truly the land of opportunity. I'm Jim Cowstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. In the 1990s, a violent drug…
  • Shaim Gabriel — Person · Referenced criminal figure (successor leader) · 4 mentions · first at
    Becomes the new leader of the Island Boys' Augusta operation after Smalls leaves; arrested after a courier is caught with cocaine.
    In Small's absence, a man named Shaim Gabriel becomes the new leader of the Island Boy's operation in Augusta, Georgia.
  • Christopher Jabberk — Person · Referenced law enforcement (likely mis-transcribed) · 5 mentions · first at
    Name appears to correspond to a Virgin Islands DEA task force detective mentioned as 'Detective Chris Howell'; included as an extracted entity but not clearly supported verbatim as 'Christopher Jabberk' in the transcript.
    Detective Chris Howell is on the DEA task force formed to target drug traffickers in the US Virgin Islands out.

Companies & orgs

  • FBI — Company · Law enforcement agency · 1 mention · first at
    Primary law enforcement agency involved in tracking and capturing the fugitives across multiple states.
  • American Express — Company · Financial services · 4 mentions · first at
    Provided crucial transaction data that helped track the fugitives' movements.
  • Lebanon County Detective Bureau — Company · Law enforcement agency · 2 mentions · first at
    Local law enforcement agency that initially investigated the murder of Guy Goodman.
    Detective Paul Zman of the Lebanon County Detective Bureau takes the lead in the investigation.
  • Visa — Company · Financial services · 1 mention · first at
    Provided real-time transaction tracking to help locate the fugitives.
    To locate the suspects the instant they use the card, Visa must create a complex reporting system for a single credit card.

Places & events

  • Palmyra, Pennsylvania — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at
    Location where the initial murder of Guy Goodman took place.
  • Augusta, Georgia — Place · Setting · 11 mentions · first at
    Primary location for the drug trafficking operations of the Island Boys.
  • North Dakota — Place · Setting · 6 mentions · first at
    Location where the fugitives were tracked using the victim's credit card.
    And the last transaction we had on record was in Rapid City, South Dakota.
  • St. Thomas — Place · Setting · 5 mentions · first at
    Location where the Island Boys operated and where cocaine shipments were processed.
    Springet made an executive decision that they wouldn't bring cocaine directly into the US Virgin Islands.
  • St. Croix — Place · Setting · 4 mentions
    Location where the Island Boys operated and where cocaine shipments were processed.
    Intelligence information that was gained from confidential sources stated that one of the family members was the St.
  • Bismar, North Dakota — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Location where the fugitives passed checks and where Donna Martz was last seen.
    The bank had cleared checks written in a number of locations in the Bismar, North Dakota area.
  • Rapid City, South Dakota — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Location where the fugitives were tracked using the victim's credit card.
    And the last transaction we had on record was in Rapid City, South Dakota.
  • Virginia — Place · Setting · 7 mentions · first at
    Location where Eugene Smalls relocated and was later arrested.
    She has outstanding warrants for her arrest and is also a suspect in two murders in Virginia.
  • New York, New York — Place · Setting · 5 mentions · first at
    Location of American Express Global Security office that assisted in tracking the fugitives.
    The FBI announced a $10,000 reward and had begun the process of adding him to their 10 most wanted fugitives list when a media report generated a promising lead.
  • Lebanon County — Place · Setting · 5 mentions · first at
    County where the initial murder of Guy Goodman took place.
    The coroner for Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, determined that retired florist Guy Goodman was savagely beaten and then slowly suffocated to death. His face was.
  • Fontana — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Location where the fugitives used Donna Martz's credit card at an ATM.
    The next significant lead comes when Marx's account posts a withdrawal in Montana.
  • Virginia Beach, Virginia — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Location where Eugene Smalls was arrested for drug trafficking.
    Eugene Smalls is heading their way.
  • New Jersey (Jersey) — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as part of the fugitives' possible routes.
    The FBI announced a $10,000 reward and had begun the process of adding him to their 10 most wanted fugitives list when a media report generated a promising lead.
  • Savannah River — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Geographical feature marking the state line between Georgia and South Carolina.
    At gunpoint, Amy drove across the Savannah River from South Carolina into Georgia and to the bank where she worked.
  • Montgomery — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the fugitives' possible routes.
    In addition to that, regional messages had gone out to all the police departments to be on the lookout for Donna Marts, Carolyn King, or Barley Martin.

Full transcript with timestamps

Two deadly fugitives are on the run from justice. Authorities follow an electronic trail

and chase the escaped convict and his partner from state to state. The suspects are moving fast, [screaming] determined to avoid capture. 39.

The police and FBI must track them down before they take another life. In Pennsylvania, an inmate escaped with the help of his female accomplice. Following a trail of fraudulent credit card receipts and death, authorities track the pair, but always find themselves one step behind. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. The FBI and police raced to capture the deadly couple who seem to be running with no direction, no sense of fear, and nothing to lose.

107 investigation in September 25th, 1993. Friends of 74year-old Guy Goodman contact the Palmyra, Pennsylvania police. How you doing?

Um, Mr. Goodman. They're concerned because they have not heard from him in over a week.

Goodman's landlord meets an officer at his rented house. You have a key for the door there?

I do. Okay, let's go check it out. Okay. You just want to step back there? All right. The officer observes shards of broken porcelain on the floor and dried blood on the floor and walls. Blood spatter trails down the hall and leads to the basement stairs.

In a storage room, he discovers a body. The officer calls for assistance. Headquarters. Code three. Code three. Requesting backup. Are you clear?

Unit 1 833. Go ahead. Detective Paul Zman of the Lebanon County Detective Bureau takes the lead in the investigation.

Go ahead. 104. I'll be in route to that location. The countywide bureau helps township police departments with major crime investigations.

It was evident that the house had been ransacked. Kitchen drawers were open. Things were strewn around on the floor.

Going down into the basement area, you could see drag marks led from the uh stairway uh to a small storage room. The crime scene is gruesome. The victim's hands and feet are tied behind his back. Several layers of plastic bags, sheets, and blankets enshroud his head. Coverings are tightened at his neck with makeshift bindings.

These items were either duct taped or tied with electrical cords. The plastic bag was duct taped over the cloth covering.

Hoping to find a trace of the perpetrator, crime scene investigators carefully process the house. They dust every surface for latent fingerprints. and collect a roll of duct tape left on a table. Likely the same tape used in the bindings. With no witnesses, only the careful examination of every item can help the detectives understand this crime. We were trying to not only obtain the forensic evidence, but we were also trying to determine if any of the property was taken from the residence. We were able to establish that Mr.

Goodman's wallet was missing. They find American Express charge statements. Oh,

but the card itself is missing. Statement here. The account numbers get that old

in the bedroom. Investigators discover an open box of checks. checks. A series of checks from the middle of this box had been removed. We also knew that the vehicle of Mr. Goodman was also missing at this point.

What do you have to do out here yet? Guy Goodman seemed like an unlikely target for this type of attack. Like most of the Palmyra, Pennsylvania community, Chief Michael Wayman knew of the victim.

Guy Goodman was a retired florist. He was a lifelong resident of the of the Palmyra area. Uh well known within the community and liked by uh everyone in the community. It was apparent that either the motive for this crime was a robbery that had gone bad or that there was a robbery after the fact uh after Mr. Goodman was assaulted and died.

Palmyra, Pennsylvania is located in Lebanon County. This peaceful community sees fewer than three murders per year. In most cases, the victim knows the killer. At the autopsy, the victim's face is unrecognizable. The medical examiner uses dental records to confirm it is Guy Goodman. Based on the body's decomposition, he concludes Goodman has been dead for about a week. Although the victim was severely beaten, his wounds were not fatal. An examination of his respiratory tract reveals he died slowly from suffocation.

Leon prints recovered from Goodman's house processed at the lab. Examiners check the prints against local arrest records and find a match. When the forensics report arrives on Zechman's desk, he isn't surprised by the results.

Fingerprints that we had obtained at the crime scene matched Bradley Martin. Zachman knows the name all too well.

I just entered him as a wanted person charging him with the escape from the county prison. So, I knew he was on the run.

Many of Lebanon County's inmates are part of a work release program. Bradley Martin, a repeat thief and drug user, is one of these workreleased prisoners. Over a week earlier, Martin used a 2-hour pass, a weekly perk of the work release program, to meet his new girlfriend, Carolyn King. 27-year-old King worked at a factory where she met the 21-year-old workrelease prisoner. When Martin failed to return, prison officials launched a fugitive investigation. They called the Lebanon County Detective Bureau. After obtaining a fugitive warrant for Martin, the detectives check Carolyn King's apartment, concerned for her well-being.

But King is not there, and they find nothing to indicate where she is gone. Or even if she is with Martin. The detectives entered Martin in NCIC, the National Criminal Information Center. Once the murder of Guy Goodman is discovered, there is a greater urgency to find Martin and to determine if Carolyn King is unharmed.

The detectives interview Martin's friends and co-workers. What they learn surprises them. Through interviews, we were able to establish that Bradley Martin and Carolyn King were together several days after Guy Goodman was murdered. We were able to establish that they were together in the Palmra area and then it was just blank.

Detectives faced the possibility that Carol and King may be Martin's accomplice. Earlier, when Detective Zechman ran a statewide background check on King, she came up clean.

He tries again, this time using a national database. He learns she has a long criminal history, including theft and check forgery. She has outstanding warrants for her arrest and is also a suspect in two murders in Virginia.

The detectives have no idea where the two suspects are. If they left town right after the Goodwin murder, they have more than a week's head start.

Detectives hope to track the suspects using the American Express charge card and the check stolen from the victim's home.

Okay, let me call the guy at the American Express security department. That's great.

Detective Weman asks American Express Global Security in New York to help. Joe Ganon, the chief investigator in AMX security, works to assist the police.

And I'll be back to you as soon as I can. Got it. Thanks. We flagged Mr. Goodman's account because he was the victim of a homicide and the chances were that the perpetrators of that homicide were in possession of that card.

A review of Goodman's account shows purchases made after Goodman's death. The transactions leave a trail that may lead to Goodman's killer.

We discovered that the charges began in western Pennsylvania and continued out through the Ohio Valley down into Iowa and Kansas and then they turned north. And the last transaction we had on record was in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Armed with a solid lead, the Pennsylvania detectives waste no time. They catched the next available flight to Rapid City, South Dakota. The killers had disappeared, but the victim's charge card had become the investigator's best informant.

Police hope the trail of surfacing transactions will lead them to the murderers. Within hours, the Pennsylvania detectives arrive in Rapid City. Accompanied by local police, they visit the last stores where the charge card was used. Interviews with clerks verify their suspicions. Up until this point, we were speculating that Bradley Martin and Carolyn King were the two people that were using Goodman's American Express card.

Then investigators catch their first real break. Some of the individuals were able to identify Bradley Martin

as a user of the card. Some were able to identify Carolyn King as a user of the card. This one,

the revelation confirms their theory. It was no longer a who done it. We knew for certain who had done it. Now it was a matter of changing the focus of the investigation to apprehending them.

The Pennsylvania detectives circulate photos of detailed information about the suspects to all South Dakota law enforcement agencies. The Rapid City Police Fraud Unit or Bunko Squad tells them of an interracial couple who've been passing bad checks at local stores. Rapid City Police Department had a black and white bunko team who are trying to do a con game within the area was a black female and a white male driving a vehicle with Virginia plates. We knew that this fit the description of Carolyn King and Bradley Martin. We knew that Carolyn King had a vehicle with Virginia plates. We felt that they were there working in the Rapid City area.

Registration, please. The Pennsylvania detectives assist as Rapid City police pull over the couple in the car with Virginia plates.

They confirm the couple is the team Rapid City detectives have been hunting down,

but not the suspected killers. The black female and the white male were in fact not Martin and King. They were just simply another couple that matched the description and who were doing their own criminal activities. American Express informs the detectives there have been no new charges in over a week. The investigation appears to be back at the beginning with no leads. Okay. What I can do for you is get

But King and Martin are having trouble using their murder victim's outofstate checks.

Let me get my manager for you, ma'am. They need another source of cash. Come on.

Their next victim, a 59year-old woman traveling alone. Donna Martz. Why are you doing this?

The terrified woman complies when they force her to take them to her car. The next day, the Pennsylvania detectives learned that someone passed several of Guy Goodman's checks in North Dakota.

The bank had cleared checks written in a number of locations in the Bismar, North Dakota area.

This supports the detective's theory. They had used the credit card. Now, they were utilizing the checks stolen from Guy Goodman at the time of his homicide that further validated that they had to have been the persons who committed the homicide.

Detective Allander, please. Zachman phones authorities in Bismar from the road.

I'm Sergeant Zeman from Leon County, Pennsylvania. I made contact with a detective within the Bismar Police Department. Uh, I told him of locations that I had had checks passed and I gave him the rundown of the Guy Goodman homicide and who was involved and and what evidence we had discovered up to this point. And there was a long pause uh from the detective and I asked him what was wrong and he said, "Well, we're investigating a missing person's from that same hotel where one of these Goodman checks were passed."

Donna Mars's family called police when she did not return home from Bismar. They described Marts in their Chrysler New Yorker.

Police comb Bismar for any sign of Marts or her car, but find nothing. The detectives fear Martin and King have grabbed Donna Martz. The case has a new urgency. A woman's life is at stake. Police investigate the death of 74year-old retired florist Guy Goodman, who was severely beaten, then murdered in his rural Pennsylvania home. Investigators determined that the victim's charge card and a book of checks were stolen right there in a row.

Fingerprints at the scene identify two likely perpetrators. 21-year-old Bradley Martin and his 27-year-old girlfriend Carolyn King.

Pennsylvania detectives Paul Zeman and Michael Weman follow the pair of fugitives to Bismar, North Dakota,

and learn authorities there are investigating the disappearance of a woman from the same hotel where one of Goodman's checks was passed. Donna Martz, a traveling tour guide for an interstate bus line, was last seen at the hotel where the suspects were staying. When March didn't arrive home as scheduled, her family reported her missing. Local authorities issue an APB on March's Chrysler New Yorker. The Bismar FBI joins the case, led by special agent Craig Welker.

The FBI and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation set up a task force which was joined by other agencies including the Bismar Police Department and the local sheriff's department.

When the Pennsylvania detectives arrive in Bismar, they share the information on the fugitives that they gathered over the past week. They became an integral part of the task force on this case. The linking of King and Martin was very critical in the investigation.

With potential suspects identified in the abduction of Donna Martz, the task force still struggles for viable leads.

They continue to search the hotel. just we spoke with the clerks at the hotel in Bismar where where Don Marts was last seen and they were able to tell us that Bradley Martin and Carolyn King stayed at the same hotel. Hotel personnel also recall that around 9:00 a.m. on September 26th, King and Donna Marts were only a few feet apart.

They were able to confirm that Carolyn King had been in the lobby at the same time that that Donna Marts was in the small dining area uh having her continental breakfast.

No one noticed Marts leaving the hotel with anyone, but investigators fear she has been kidnapped. Now they need to find out where the fugitives went next. Then police discover Guy Goodman's car abandoned outside Bismar. There is no sign of Donna Marts.

I got and the search reveals only receipts from stores along the suspect's route and several unused checks bearing Goodman's name. Once again, the suspects have left authorities with no leads. FBI special agent Craig Welcon knows they must find Mars before her kidnappers decide to kill her.

Everybody in an investigation like this is extremely busy. Lots of information coming in, including information that really is extraneous, but you don't know that at the time. So, there's a lot of sifting and sorting of information. um a lot of trying to prioritize and make sure that your primary emphasis is in the right direction to recover the victim alive and well and apprehend the suspects.

Sleepless hours pass with no leads. Then a break. Working with Donna Mars's bank, detectives learn her credit card was used in a shopping mall more than 100 miles away.

She had no relatives out there. There was just absolutely no reason for her to go that way.

The MMO matches that of Goodman's killers. Mart's credit card started showing charges on it uh a day or so after she had gone missing. We were fairly certain that she was not the one doing the charges.

The FBI dispatches teams to interview sales clerks at the mall. None of the clerks can positively identify Martin or King as the user of the card, but they are sure March did not make the purchases which were for young men's clothing.

Did they say where they were going? When you're working the case, you become very much aware that the clock is working against you. Particularly when you have a situation like this where we know that Guy Goodman was murdered. The next significant lead comes when Marx's account posts a withdrawal in Montana. It occurred days earlier at an ATM in the small town of Shelby. Montana FBI agents bring the ATM surveillance tape to the command post in Bismar.

Detectives Wayman and Zechman positively identify Bradley Martin using March's credit card. It is the first definitive proof linking the suspects to Donna Martz.

The tape confirms Martin and King traveled west, but there is still no sign of Marts. The evidence is building yet. Investigators main concern is not prosecution, but finding Donna alive. And although we had an ideal that they were heading in a general direction of west, they could change that direction at any time. So it was very frustrating because we felt that there was a short time frame in which if Donna March was still alive that we would be able to apprehend them and save her.

Special Agent Welcon knows they must speed up the process of tracking the victim's credit card usage. I contacted Ben Patty, a retired FBI special agent who was employed by a major credit card company issuing Donna March's cards.

At Visa's San Francisco headquarters, International Fraud Control Director Ben Patty agrees to help. Normally, when a card holder uses their credit card, that bank that issued the card will not see that transaction information for two to three days. That's when it's posted. And the bank would then know where the transaction occurred. Craig Welcon was really wanting to find out when the card that belonged to Donna Mars was used in real time,

which we could not do with the systems as they were at that time. To locate the suspects the instant they use the card, Visa must create a complex reporting system for a single credit card. But Donna Mart's life is on the line. We contacted the systems people in the computer center and explained to them what we wanted. They said, "Okay, we'll go into our systems, make the necessary changes in the mainframe computer so that this specific card holder number could be captured as it came through our systems."

The programmers estimate it will take at least 24 hours to create and implement the new program. FBI agents hope that the computer program will finally put them closer to the murder suspects and to Donna Martz before she too is killed. The coroner for Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, determined that retired florist Guy Goodman was savagely beaten and then slowly suffocated to death. His face was unrecognizable at the autopsy. The suspects, 21-year-old Bradley Martin and 27-year-old Carolyn King, have more than 20 felony convictions between them and are now fugitives on the run across the heartland of America.

Authorities believe the couple is holding their latest victim, Donna Martz, captive and using her credit cards. The last charge was recorded in Montana. The FBI and police from across the country are in pursuit. Tracking the suspects through the victim's credit card usage, investigators remain one step behind.

Led by special agent Craig Welcon. That was due to the flow of the information from the merchants to the credit card company. And then when that information was actually available from the computer database

in 1993, banking computers take days to post each transaction. Investigators await a new Visa program that will trap any activity on Mart's card. Pennsylvania Detective Paul Zman chased the pair from the beginning of their flight. It was very frustrating being days behind locating places that Mart's credit card had been used because we knew that number one, this couple had killed Guy Gman. We knew that Donald Martz potentially was going to be the next victim if she had not already been killed. There's nothing we could do more than what we were doing to try and locate them and stop this from happening.

Investigators try to estimate where the suspects will go next. They alert all law enforcement agencies on the suspect's possible routes.

They post descriptions of the suspects in their vehicle and the National Crime Information C Center's nationwide database.

We entered both Bradley Martin and Carolyn King in NCIC. They were also entered in as kidnapping suspects. In addition to that, regional messages had gone out to all the police departments to be on the lookout for Donna Marts, Carolyn King, or Barley Martin. If any police force in the country runs into the couple, the Bismar task force will be notified. To further increase their chances, investigators fax descriptions of the suspects and the victim to police agencies along Martin and King's likely routes. But there are no incoming leads beyond the sporadic credit card purchases.

Detectives Weman and Zechman returned to Pennsylvania to reinter everyone who knows the fugitives. They hope Martin and King have made contact with someone back home.

We continually talk to individuals in the Palmary area who were associates of Bradley Martin trying to find out if there was recent contact with him or Carolyn King and if there was where were they at, where did they call from

but no one offers new information. Despite every effort, investigators still have nothing. model.

The FBI receives an update from the Visa Corporation in San Francisco. This Ben Patty International

Visa fraud investigator and former special agent Ben Patty had asked the company's systems programmers for a way to trace Mart's credit card transactions as they are made. and I told the FBI and we set up a system of contact between our systems people in Virginia, myself and then the FBI and their command post. After the system was in place, the first transaction that came through was a service station gas transaction in Southern California. It was in Los Angeles several hours earlier. Investigators are closer, but still too far behind.

While the task force notifies authorities in the LA area, Visa gets another hit on Donna March's card. The transaction came through our systems in real time. As soon as it came through the systems, we notified the FBI's command post with and it would have been within our 2hour time that the transaction actually occurred.

Then a transaction is made at a hotel in National City outside San Diego. Agents at the command post contact the FBI's San Diego field office and the lead goes to Supervisory Special Agent Sam Stanton. We received information that uh that the Donna Mars credit card had been used at the hotel in National City. So immediately I dispatched agents over to the hotel off Interstate 5. agents interviewed the uh manager and the security guard and employees at the hotel and was able to determine that uh a couple matching Martin and King had stayed at the hotel using Donna March's credit card.

Yes. But the couple checked out 2 hours earlier, paying for the room with the Visa.

Identify them. Probably. Police officers and FBI agents swarm the area, checking hotel parking lots, convenience stores, and gas stations for Donna Mars's Chrysler New Yorker or any sign of Martin and King. Special Agent Stanton knows finding the car is a long shot, especially when that car has a 2-hour lead on authorities. that

where San Diego is a very large city and to try to find a vehicle in a city that size would be almost impossible,

but we did put out an all points bulletin and notified the uh state judicial police and the federal police in Mexico and the border patrol uh thinking that maybe the individuals were headed toward Mexico.

The Tijana border is the busiest in the world. In 1993, nearly 40,000 Americans cross into Mexico every day without having to show even an ID. If the fugitives make it past the border, it is unlikely they will ever be found.

All right, I know it's been a couple of days, but have you heard from Brad or Carolyn?

Wow. Then the Pennsylvania detectives finally catch a break that narrows the search.

What do they have to say? According to Chief Michael Weman, we received information from a an associate of Bradley Martins indicating that they had received a phone call from Bradley and that Bradley was in San Diego, that he was with Carolyn King and that they were headed back towards Pennsylvania. Um, we took that information. We notified the San Diego office of the FBI and they in turn notified the California Highway Patrol. The fugitives made the call as they checked out of the hotel in San Diego. Martin and King still have a 2-hour lead, but authorities continue closing the gap.

Soon, a hunch and a bit of luck will bring the investigation to a violent and dangerous conclusion. Fall 1993, authorities chase Bradley Martin and Carolyn King, suspected of murder in Pennsylvania and kidnapping in North Dakota. Investigators from both states are frustrated that for weeks they have been one step behind the suspects. They hope to find the pair before the abducted woman, Donna Martz, is killed. Then, a new program created by the Visa Corporation at the FBI's request puts investigators only 2 hours behind the suspects.

Investigators learned the two have just checked out of a San Diego area hotel based on their checkout time and the tip that the fugitives are heading east. FBI agents try to estimate their position.

Special Agent Stanton has a hunch that the suspects will use Interstate 8, the southernmost highway going east.

Well, yeah. He determines that Martin and King will soon be approaching El Centro California near the Arizona border.

It's just two hours. I called Agent Paul Vic in the El Central office of the FBI and asked him to send out an all points bulletin. Stanton hopes he's picked the right route

as El Centro special agent Paul Vic takes it from there. I called the California Highway Patrol dispatchers and asked them to broadcast the Mars's car description. wanted for murders that just left a a hotel in San Diego and we suspect they might be headed east on Interstate 8 and even stopped. The all points bulletin about 187 suspects police code for murder is transmitted to every officer on Interstate 8, including California Highway Patrolman Richard Chambers. CHP unit central contending a semi copy information on 187 suspects possibly in route to uh petrol.

I went checked my section of the freeway like I normally would on in the beginning of my shift and uh I went west on Interstate 8.

As Chambers drives, he receives the suspect's description. Anyway, first suspect is a Bradley Martin, white male, 6' 160. Second subject is a Carolyn King, black female, wanted by the FBI.

Within minutes, Chambers believes he has spotted the car. I was driving west on the freeway through the desert, and there's not that much traffic. I saw the car go by eastbound and I believed it matched the description.

The chambers cannot see the car's license plate. I wasn't sure, so I made a U-turn through the center divider and overtook the vehicle and verified the license plate and it was in fact uh bearing the North Dakota license plate that we had received.

L Central 11684, I think I'm behind the 187 vehicle. Could you send me a backup car?

Two suspects in the vehicle. Looks like the black female's driving. Dispatch advises officer Chambers that there is no backup immediately available.

888 respond. Only one unmarked unit races to catch up to the suspects. Sergeant Riley come responding to the pursuit. Uh joining pursuit. Police know the suspects are desperate and probably armed.

Two suspects of black female driving will attempt to contact DPS and they know I'm behind them at 60 mph. Coming up on 186 at 50 mph coming up on 186.

But so far the suspects appear calm as they approach State Route 186. report. They're going to head us south on 186. They're getting off 186 southbound on 186.

Chambers backup is still several miles behind, racing to catch up. On route 186, the chase intensifies. Do not stop and turn to accelerate to 70.

The suspects try to shake Officer Chambers, but he maintains pursuit even as they escalate to 90 m an hour.

Notify you and DPS. Looks like we're going to be going yellow and they go right eastbound.

Proceeding eastbound in Arizona. The suspects cross into Arizona with Chambers on their heels. Although a California officer outside of his jurisdiction, Chambers continues his pursuit. He relays information to Arizona authorities. Then the danger increases. The male passenger did come out of the uh right front window with a handgun.

They're shooting. They are shooting. Sound like they're shooting. Chambers stays on them, intent to capture the deadly suspects [crying] as the cars speed toward the town of Yuma, Arizona. Dozens of officers listening in race to cover chambers. October 5th, 1993. California Highway Patrol officer Richard Chambers engages in a high-speed chase with murder and kidnapping suspects Carolyn King and Bradley Martin. Shoot at him. Do something.

Near El Central California, the pursuit crosses into Arizona. Backup is responding. But as the suspects barrel toward the town of Yuma, Arizona, Officer Chambers is on his own and under fire. He knows he must capture the pair before they kill again. [screaming]

The suspects exit onto a smaller road. This one with intersections. Chambers radios their position.

They're going into human now. Get my units out there to back them up. They run through two stop signs without incident. Then when they crash, the suspects flee on foot.

I got out of my car and drew my uh my pistol and ordered them to stop. And I I told them if they didn't stop, I'd shoot. And at that time, the female did stop.

Then Carolyn King orders Martin to stop. Get down. Call right there. and I was able to handcuff the female. I just had one pair of handcuffs with me at the time and uh I held the male passenger at gunpoint until uh Yuma PD arrived.

It was probably only a minute or two, but it seemed longer than that. When the backup officer arrives, he helps take the suspects into custody. Trans your back.

After a two-w weekek cross-country flight pursued by police and the FBI, Carolyn King and Bradley Martin have finally been stopped. But investigators first concern is the safety of the kidnapped woman, Donna Martz. She is not inside the car. On the floorboards lies the handgun Martin fired at Chambers. They open the trunk. Inside, police find duct tape, a knife, and Donna Martz's glasses, but nothing indicating where she is. Martin and King are taken to the Yuma Police Department, but they refuse to tell officers what happened to the kidnapped woman.

FBI agents arrive and interrogate the suspect separately. The one Carolyn King is defiant from the start, refusing even to admit her real identity. She claims no knowledge of Donna Martz.

Another agent is unsuccessful with Bradley Martin as well. When Special Agent Paul Vic reaches the station, he learns that Martin has refused to talk.

Bradley Martin was pacing back and forth with his hands handcuffed behind him. He appeared to be in some kind of discomfort.

Vic decides to try another approach. Martin told me that his neck hurt and he had pain extending down into his right arm.

Hoping to win Martin over and get him to cooperate, Vic offers to recuff him in front so he will be more comfortable.

His strategy works. Martin told me that he would speak with me. The agent reminds Martin he had earlier invoked his right to an attorney, but the suspect says he is now waving that right.

Vic drafts a statement to ensure Martin's waiver will hold up in court. Once he agreed to that, he signed this piece of paper that I wrote out that he agreed to talk to me even though he had invoked earlier. after he signed that document. I looked him straight in the eyes and I told him that I knew that he killed somebody in Pennsylvania, but that I wanted to know that Marts was okay. And then I told him, "Is she okay?" And Martin looked at me and he told me, "No, I killed her." Martin says they kept Mrs. Marts for over a week.

But after several close calls with police, he decided to get rid of her. They stopped in the Nevada desert. He got her out of the trunk and walked her to a ditch at gunpoint. He says she knew he was going to kill her. She said one thing before he fired, that she loved her children. The news devastates everyone who had hoped to save Donna. At the conclusion of the interview with Martin, we obtained a map which showed approximately where Barts could be located in Nevada. And we then faxed the map to the Elco Nevada FBI office. at which time, late at night, a search was initiated to look for Donna Mart's body.

But Martin was doing drugs during his fugitive trek. His memory is unclear and his map inaccurate.

Several times during the night, search crews call in for more information. The desert area near Elco, Nevada is hundreds of square miles. The crews do their best searching through the night and into the morning. Then on October 7th, investigators find the body of Donna Martz about a mile and a half off Interstate 80. In a case like the guy Goodman Donna Mart's homicides, the drive is to keep anyone else from getting hurt. Secondly, it's solving the case. Get them off the street and into jail and then successfully prosecute them.

In Nevada, Martin and King plead guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Donna Martz and receive life sentences. In Pennsylvania, they are found guilty of the murder of Guy Goodman. Both Martin and King are sentenced to death. This case is an excellent example which showed the inter agency cooperation between the FBI and local county and state officials uh in California, Arizona, North Dakota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and numerous other states. From working together, we were able to solve this case and apprehend King and Martin and get them convicted.

For Donna Martz's 11 grandchildren, three children, family, and friends, the convictions bring a sense of closure. Even today, they are comforted in knowing police and the FBI caught Martin and King before they could claim yet another victim. From the Caribbean islands to the east coast of the United States, a deadly drug gang makes millions. But its leader remains a mystery. As their cocaine trafficking business thrives, the violence rages out of control. Too late. To destroy the gang, agents and police know they must identify the leader and take him down.

United States is one of the most profitable drug markets in the world. For ruthless and sophisticated drug traffickers, it is truly the land of opportunity. I'm Jim Cowstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. In the 1990s, a violent drug organization moved thousands of kilos of Colombian cocaine through the Virgin Islands and into Georgia. It would take a task force of dedicated agents and police to shut down this multi-million dollar operation and destroy a cocaine empire.

The US Virgin Islands are a tourist's paradise. Lush tropical islands and miles of sandy beaches, all in America's backyard. But these islands hold a dark secret. Law enforcement refers to them as the cocaine funnel. Because they are located halfway between South America and the US mainland, drug gangs use the islands to ship large amounts of cocaine into the US. Starting in the early 90s, a drug gang called the Island Boys shipped thousands of kilos of cocaine into the US through the Virgin Islands. They chose the unlikely city of Augusta, Georgia as their main point of entry.

There they turned the cocaine into crack. FBI special agent Tim Cox. It was um primarily the population that drew them in.

At the time, there were several projects that were were ripe for selling crack cocaine. Um it's also a two-hour city. You're you're two hours away from Atlanta. You're two hours away from Savannah.

But the competition between the island boys and local drug gangs is brutal. Eugene Smalls runs the Augusta operation for the Island Boys. Business is good. In 1991, the gang is raking in millions. And Smalls makes a big target.

There are rumors he keeps a million dollars in cash in his safety deposit box. He wears the key around his neck. That's By the time Augusta police arrive, Eugene's small safety deposit box is empty, and the powerful drug dealer is fighting for his life. He survives, but his injuries are severe. The rising violence in Augusta concerns police, and the island boys are at the center of it. The Augusta police discuss the problem with the FBI. They start by explaining what they know about the gang. The local authorities through their contacts with informants and some of the arrests that they'd made previously knew that there was an increasing number of these gentlemen coming up from Virgin Islands.

The informants have given indication that they were moving more and more cocaine into the area.

In October 1992, the FBI and US customs worked to build a federal conspiracy case against the Island Boys. Cox suspects the island boys are working with a major Colombian cocaine cartel.

One thing is clear, they are as mysterious as they are deadly. We didn't have any inroads into the group, so we're having to put together as much intel as we could by bits and pieces.

Agents assemble photos of suspected gang members taken by the local drug squad. Former US Customs agent Larry Sap.

So, no, not even we didn't even know who they were. We'd put them in there to see if somebody would later identify them.

They also scour every report they can find that has any connection to the Island Boys. One report stands out. A month earlier, two DEA agents spotted Eugene Smalls at the airport in Atlanta. Despite his injuries, the local drug boss personally picked up a passenger on a flight from the Virgin Islands. The DEA decided to follow Smalls. agents radioed the Georgia Highway Patrol and asked them to pull the car over for speeding.

DA had enough of the following them and and joined the locals there and got them they got them all out the car, searched them, took all their money, tried to interview them all.

Smalls could barely walk. His passenger, James Springette, was carrying a passport from the US Virgin Islands. Agents also searched the car.

They found nothing. No drugs, no weapons, and surprisingly little cash. The DEA photographed the two men as well as their credit cards and IDs and had to let them go.

Agents can use the credit card information to track the movements of all four suspects. But there's also a downside. then they know that they've been watched or being watched and may affect their behavior in the future. They may be more careful of surveillances and and more careful movements and things of this nature.

Agents wonder about James Springette. Who is he and what role does he play? Eugene Smalls picked him up at the airport personally even though Smalls was still recovering from bullet wounds. Obviously, James Springette is important. Special Agent Cox contacts the local police to see if they have any information.

Yes, officer Cox. Got anything on? The Richmond County Sheriff's Department narcotics squad have been fighting the gang since it first arrived in Augusta.

But they have never heard of James Springette. If law enforcement hopes to take down the island boys, they're going to have to do it the hard way from the bottom up.

We started on the street level doing surveillances when we could, getting information from the local authorities and trying to develop some other inroads into the group.

Again, they hit a brick wall. The Island Boys have a dangerous reputation. Even paid informants were afraid to talk about the group.

It was hard to develop informants because this group was known to be violent and informants were afraid to do anything with them because they had a reputation for hurting and killing people.

Federal authorities conduct surveillance. They observe that members of the gang frequently use motel rooms to do business. After they check out, teams of agents search their rooms.

You'd be surprised that you find phone numbers, photos, different things. This whole case was like somebody had filled a room with puzzle pieces and we're trying to dig our way out and figure out who is who. The pressure is constant and intense. too intense for Eugene Smalls, the head of the Augusta Island Boys.

We were putting a lot of heat on him. Eugene Smalls decides to relocate to Virginia.

I personally think that the reason Eugene left was things were getting too hot for them around Augusta. In Small's absence, a man named Shaim Gabriel becomes the new leader of the Island Boy's operation in Augusta, Georgia. Agent SAP alerts Virginia authorities. Eugene Smalls is heading their way. They were on him as soon as he got up there and worked him and ran a good case up there. [snorts] Smalls is arrested in Virginia Beach for drug trafficking and eventually convicted and sentenced to 90 years in prison. In Augusta, agents focus on Shaim Gabriel, the new leader of the Island Boys. They suspect the gang is bringing drugs in through the Atlanta airport.

When you look at the amount of money that they were running, plus the amount of cocaine that we knew they were putting on the street, it was obvious they were having to to run lots of loads of luggage through and use lots of couriers. On June 14th, 1995, agents in Atlanta find a suitcase containing 7 kilos, more than 15 pounds of cocaine.

James, we can change this around. Who you delivering the coke to? Investigators question the courier.

He tells agents the drugs were going to Shaimm Gabriel in Augusta. Gabriel. We had enough cooperating information, you know, through phone tolls and to substantiate exactly what the U courier was saying.

Based on the courier's statement, authorities are able to obtain an arrest warrant and a warrant to search Gabriel's home. On June 15th, 1995, authorities serve both warrants. As the agents close in, they have no idea what Gabriel has waiting for them behind his door.

In Augusta, Georgia, the FBI along with US Customs and local police work to take down a violent drug gang. Investigators arrest Shaim Gabriel, the man they believe is the new head of the island boys in Augusta.

Gabriel is accused of attempting to receive 7 kilos of cocaine from a courier from the Virgin Islands. A search of his home turns up documents, photos, and $15,000 in ons.

Special agent Tim Cox. Apparently, Shaim felt it was beneath him to spend dollar bills. So, he wouldn't spend dollar bills. He would stuff them in these jars.

For law enforcement, Gabriel's arrest is a big success. But it doesn't stop the Island Boys.

As soon as authorities take Gabriel into custody, agents suspect that new leaders are already emerging to take over the gang. Whenever we'd take people off from the group, make an arrest or anything else, other people from the islands would arrive back in the States and take their place in the group distributing around Augusta area. Investigators continue to go after the island boys using the same techniques they used to take down Gabriel. But it's not working. It seems the island boys have changed tactics. They must be using another means of getting their drugs past customs at the airport.

agents have to find it. Customs expands its searches both in the Virgin Islands and in US airports. On February 6th, 1996, agents get a break when a random customs check finds cocaine in a suitcase arriving in Atlanta. The bag belongs to a teenage girl from a housing project in Augusta. The gang has been eluding police by using couriers that don't fit the usual profile.

Former US customs agent Larry Sap. They would uh find young girls that had no money, no uh future, and asking would they like to go to the Virgin Islands for a week, free vacation? And of course, any of them would say yes. And the only stipulation was you had to bring back a package for them. Are you going to tell her?

These were easily influenced young people that just saw an opportunity to to make some money. Granted, it was illegal, but in a sense, they were victims of this group as well. They couldn't bring a lot to the table for us, but what they could tell us is who offered the deal, what the deal was.

The courier tells investigators she was hired by the girlfriend of Brian Gustav. Shortly after Gabriel's arrest, Gustav and his girlfriend arrived from the Virgin Islands. They've been running the Augusta Island boys.

The girl also gives them the names of other women who have worked as couriers. It takes more than a year to gather all the evidence against the new local leaders, but investigators have enough to arrest Gustav and his girlfriend. Brian Gustav is convicted of drug trafficking. his girlfriend takes a plea deal. Agents have taken out the leadership of the Island Boys in Augusta. Once again,

when you do take them down and the next week the same group is up and operating again, uh it gets a little frustrating, but that's why we work to go up and get to the head of the organization because that's eventually the only way you're going to be able to stop them. Arresting drug dealers in Augusta is not stopping the flow of drugs into the US. Agents know they must find out who is running the island boy operation. Their leader must be in the Virgin Islands.

In 1996, the US Virgin Islands became designated a Haida, which stands for highintensity drug trafficking area. Detective Chris Howell is on the DEA task force formed to target drug traffickers in the US Virgin Islands out.

And up until this time frame, there hadn't been a lot of um targeting of these people with established routes and cocaine trafficking. So the traffickers by this this point in the game had become pretty powerful and and they had a lot at their disposal. So we had a lot of catching up to do. Agents begin questioning informants and learned that in St. Croy, a prominent local families involved in the cocaine shipments from Colombia.

Intelligence information that was gained from confidential sources stated that one of the family members was the St. Croy girlfriend of James Springat.

Investigators recognized the name. In 1992, DEA agents photographed Springette after Eugene Smalls picked him up at the Atlanta airport.

And that informant also told us that he was the biggest drug trafficker in the islands. And so our focus kind of started to begin to switch focus from this prominent family over to James Spring. Investigators discovered that Springette's girlfriend has more than half a dozen cell phones in her name. These phones may hold the key to cracking this dangerous drug gang.

When we began to look at those phones and look at the um toll information off those phones, other names that came up through informant information began to appear on those tolls. And it was obvious that this this girl had, you know, something to do with what was going on.

While agents pursue the cell phone lead, they continue to work the streets. From informants, agents learned that a small shipment of cocaine is scheduled to leave St. Thomas via sea plane. The surveillance team spots a suspected courier carrying a cardboard box aboard. The sea plane takes off for the largest of the US Virgin Islands, St. Croy.

We let them board the plane. We get airborne on their way back to St. Croy and we establish surveillance where they were going to dock here in St. Croy. When the sea plane lands, Detective Chris Howell and the DEA are waiting. They suspect the box the courier is carrying is full of cocaine. Agents are in place for a routine takedown, but the plan changes.

Something has spooked the courier. Agents must move in. the fire. The individual who was carrying the box ran straight to the ocean, jumped off the dock into the ocean.

As he tore into the box, kilograms of cocaine began to float out into the water.

The courier is trying to destroy the evidence. He knew that if he could get those packages open, once that cocaine hit the water, it would just dissolve into nothing. But I wasn't going to take any chance. I wanted to get all seven kg. I didn't want him to tear into anything.

Chill out. Detective Howell rescues several kilos of evidence and a cell phone purchased by Springet's girlfriend.

Down. The courier is in serious trouble and he knows it. Still, he refuses to tell authorities who he's working for.

In the islands, it's very rare to see people cooperate. very rare. When we arrest somebody, even when they're facing serious jail time, they'll just do their time and that's it.

As a result of the operation, the Island Boys are now on high alert. They know the feds are watching them. They quickly change their tactics.

Springet made an executive decision that they wouldn't bring cocaine directly into the US Virgin Islands.

Instead, the gang will use the island of Torah to warehouse their drug shipments. The British Virgin Islands is literally a five or 10 minute boat ride away from St. Thomas. So you could be in British waters and a minute later and you you're in US waters or or international waters for that matter.

As a British possession, Torto is outside the jurisdiction of US law enforcement. On June 19th, 1996, the Island Boys bring 1.5 tons of cocaine onshore in Torah.

You're talking about loads that are worth millions and millions of dollars at a time. And very rarely does a group run that much dope without having some firepower behind them.

Heavily armed Colombians are present to verify the delivery. Those people's job was not only to look after the South American interest, but also to protect the load. Cocaine is loaded into two vehicles, a truck and a van.

This shipment is so important that James Springette personally oversees the transfer.

The two vehicles head for a safe house to store the cocaine. The drug dealers are unaware the Royal Virgin Island police are waiting for them. Officers have been watching the van for over a month. Every two weeks, it travels from the east end of the island to the west end, weighted down with something heavy.

They suspected it could be drug trafficking, but they also suspected it might have been involved in some burglaries that had been occurring on the east end of the island.

When a pickup and van approached, the Royal Virgin Island police move in. The pickup manages to squeeze through the roadblock, but the van is stopped in its tracks.

Put your hands up. Put your hands up. Out of the [screaming] car. Out of the car now. Out of the car. Move.

Put your hands up right now. The suspects open fire with automatic weapons. The police are outgunned. Most of them had six shot revolvers, shotguns with three rounds and weaponry of this nature and they stood up and returned fire against automatic M16s firing a full burst.

One officer is hit. The round passed out the side of his head and he was lying in a pool of blood on the street.

And so they basically at that point um began to try to keep him alive. The van gets away. The wounded officer is rushed to a hospital.

Wonder just the shock, the impact alone didn't kill him, but it put his eye out and they got him to a hospital. He lost his eye, but um he uh did live.

The next day, police find the van a mile down the road. The tires, the radiator, and the engine have been shot to pieces.

In the back of the van, police find 1260 kg of cocaine. They also find night vision goggles, GPS devices, and lights for signaling aircraft. The Royal Virgin Island Police believe the drug runners will try to escape to a nearby island. They contact police commissioners in the US Virgin Islands and the surrounding area, asking for help. Authorities know they must locate these dangerous men fast. If they're willing to shoot a cop, no one is safe. In the British Virgin Islands, a firefight erupts between heavily armed drug runners and the Royal Police.

The drug runners make a daring escape, but investigators seize a van full of cocaine. The Royal Police warn their counterparts on the surrounding islands to be on the lookout.

It was almost like a Caribbean all points bulletin. Detective Chris Howell. They put it out to all the police officers that this occurred and, you know, to be a lookout on the beaches and so forth, marinas, um, docks, you know, boaty yards and everything that these individuals may be heading our way.

You seen these guys? Police around the islands are on the alert for anything unusual.

Police. Early the next morning, officers stop a suspicious boat. There are no drugs or weapons aboard, but there is a large amount of cash.

They were questioned and then later released by police as there wasn't enough evidence at the time to hold them. Those individuals were linked through informant information as being spring's boat crew. They were the same boat crew that brought in the cocaine that had been recovered by police in Torto.

A few days later, US Virgin Island police find the body of one of the men from the boat. He's been shot in the head twice, execution style.

To me, that alls that was was an indication that Spring organization was not going to stop failure. There had to be a cost to losing that load, even if that meant the life of one of his own. At the roadblock, the gunman may have escaped,

but the cocaine they lost was worth millions. You don't lose, 1260 kg of cocaine without someone paying for it. Spring had to go back to South America and explain this to the people he was getting cocaine from, and he didn't want to go back without there being a body attached to the loss. For Springet, it's a temporary setback.

Kilograms of cocaine were during this time frame were almost on every commercial flight head into the US mainland. They had dirty baggage handlers that would put cocaine um in bags, sneak them past customs, put them on the aircraft, and then a mule would actually take custody of that bag when it arrived in a US city and move it on forward. In Georgia, FBI special agent Tim Cox and Customs Agent Larry Sap are working leads of their own. They've been watching a man named Ronnie Peton.

They believe he's the latest drug dealer to head the Augusta branch of the Island Boys. 3 months after the Torah shootout, FBI special agent Tim Cox decides to send a message to Peton at the Atlanta airport. I had heard through our street sources that Pimton had called me a punk and said we were never going to catch him. And so I thought I would at least introduce myself. So I went to the airport when he came back in and went up and introduced myself and said, "Hi, Ronnie. Welcome back to the country. I'll I'll be around. Come see me if you'd ever like to talk."

But as agents know, island boys never talk. Months pass in the Virgin Islands in early 1997. The two agents get the break they've been waiting for. A member of the Island Boys sells cocaine out of a hotel room in St. Thomas. A fellow gang member and a buyer sent to kill the dealer pay him a surprise visit. The island boy tries to warn his friend by using a special knock signaling danger. The dealer gets the message. He escapes out a back window. The island is a small place to try and hide. Gang members are everywhere.

The terrified dealer secretly turns himself into authorities. In exchange for protection, he agrees to tell the FBI what he knows about the Island Boys and their dealings in Georgia.

Both Larry Sap and I were very excited because we knew that if we actually had someone that could identify more of these people and and put us in touch with the routes they use, the methods they're using to to transport this stuff, it could be a a huge break in the case.

Former US Customs Agent Larry Sap, he was the first one to give us all the ins and outs. who was the leaders, how they smuggled, how they distributed, who were distributors, and things of this nature. Real big break in the case.

Agents are finally starting to get inside this dangerous gang. They begin trying to make their case against the suspected leader, James Springette.

We would search customs travel records. We would find out when he had gone in and out of different countries. uh we would find out when he would show up on either uh wire intercepts or show up in conversation with someone else. By doing that and by tracking the shipments, you can put Jimmy in the same area. This all goes to circumstantial evidence and ties Jimmy with it.

Springet is careful to keep his hands clean. He does his dirty work through intermediaries and rarely comes in contact with the coke. At the same time, on the island of St. Croy, the DEA convinces a federal judge to allow them to wiretap the prominent family suspected of drug smuggling and of having ties to Spring.

We applied for the first ever Title 3 in Virgin Islands history. DEA agents secretly install the wire tap in a switching station and hide the equipment. We had already received information that they had individuals that worked within the phone company that were checking their phones regularly to see if they were tapped. And so we had to hide that equipment within the phone company's uh regular wiring.

For one month during the summer of 1997, investigators listen to the wiretap and conduct simultaneous surveillance. They hear frequent references to Spring's girlfriend, but nothing concrete. The Island boys are careful about what they say on the phone.

You could tell the conversation was starting to get good and the next thing that we would hear is, "Let me call you back." And then surveillance watch him hang up the phone, jump in his car, and drive down to a pay phone and then finish the call at the pay phone. Almost from the onset, they knew we were on that phone. Certainly when you go up on a wire, you don't you expect when the wire goes down, there's going to be a roundup very shortly thereafter. We weren't there with this this wire. The wire tap does provide enough evidence to justify search warrants.

On August 7th, agents launch simultaneous raids on 22 island homes and businesses. They have enough to go after several members of the Island Boys gang, but they need a lot more to take down James Springette and dismantle his entire drug trafficking organization.

In the Virgin Islands, the DEA and police raid 22 locations. They need enough evidence to put suspected drug lord James Springette out of business forever. His girlfriend's house is a prime target.

In her bedroom, agents find a half a million dollars in cash and a business card for an attorney in Panama. They also find Springet's US passport. The passport is stamped with the dates the drug lord visited other Caribbean islands as well as Colombia, Venezuela, and Europe. By comparing those dates to intelligence on large drug shipments, agents can show whether Springet was in the same country when the drugs arrived. Virgin Islands police detective Chris Howell flies up to Augusta, Georgia to meet with FBI special agent Tim Cox and customs agent Larry Sap.

We hooked up with Chris Howell and it was another one of those breaks in the case. Chris had a wealth of information down there about activities in St. Thomas. We had a wealth of information about activities going on in the States. And when we compared the two, we found out that his departures were our arrivals. We cross matched some of the trips, who was going, who was coming. Uh it was great information that that we were able to collaborate on. authorities finally have enough circumstantial evidence to nail James Springat.

Independently, we could have probably put together a case in the islands and likewise, they probably had the ability to do that there in Georgia. But you combine the two cases together, it it seems like it's an unstoppable force.

Chris Howell wants all the cases tried in Georgia, it will be too difficult to convict Spring in the Virgin Islands. He had evolved into a monster by this point. I mean, he was very well established in South America. He had his own routes here. He had his own assets available to him. So, anything you can throw into that on your end is is beneficial.

It would help their case if they could find a more specific link between Springet and the cocaine shipments. Agents review the evidence one more time. When we had done the search warrant at Spring at St. Croy girlfriend's house, we had found business cards for a Panameanian attorney. And we also found business cards in the name of Omega C Cargo. According to customs records, a freighter owned by Omega C Cargo was stopped a few months after the Torah shootout. The ship was searched. Eight tons of Colombian cocaine was found in the cargo.

working on a hunch agents research Omega C cargo. The company is owned by James Springette.

It was huge. It was a huge chunk of the case right there. I mean, now we had 6,000 kg on Mr. Springette. That was a good feeling.

Federal authorities develop a plan to dismantle the island boys starting in Augusta Georgia. December 15th, 1997. Ronnie Peton, the local head of the Augusta gang, attempts to buy 2 kilos of cocaine from a Virgin Island supplier. The FBI is watching. In the motel room next door, customs agent Larry Sap and FBI special agents Tim Cox and Mike Varacalli videotape the buy via hidden camera. Our ultimate goal was to tie the organization all the way back to a Colombian connection, find out where the drugs were being processed and at what point they were being handed over to Springet and his organization so we could get to the highest level we possibly could.

Have a drink. Ronnie Pton came in, met the informant. We got all on video with him holding up the keys and hand balancing, waiting to see which one weighed a little more than the other.

Peton takes his time examining the bags of cocaine. Finally he picked two he wanted. On the ground on the ground on the ground.

All right. Roll over. Sit up. Special Agent Tim Cox personally arrests Peter. I said, "Hello, Ronnie. Remember me from the airport?" And and he nodded and I said, "Well, who's the punk now?"

Shortly after Peton's arrest, FBI special agent Tim Cox is promoted and transferred.

It's a bittersweet pill because I was with this case since its inception. I knew we were headed towards taking Jimmy Springhead off, but also knew I would not be there for the finish.

Cox leaves special agent Mike Varacalli in charge of the Island Boys investigation.

Over the next few months, Varacalli and his team continue methodically building a case against Springet and the Island Boys.

The more we looked into it, the more we uncovered. uh 10,000 kilograms turned into 20,000 which turned into 50,000.

Less than a year after Peton's arrest, an Augusta grand jury delivers indictments against Springet, his girlfriend, and five of his closest associates.

We had a sealed indictment for quite a long time and we're just building a case. We were building a story. Uh we're basically building our case for court. Uh we identified individuals, we identified assets. Investigators want to arrest all suspects simultaneously so that none of them can run.

But there's a snag. Springet has gone into hiding. It was a frustrating time period because here we are ready for this party and we can't find our main guy.

Spring is smart and careful. He did not use the phone unnecessarily. He did not spend a lot of time in one location and he tended to reside in areas where the US government didn't have complete access and total reach.

For two long months, authorities can't find him. Then in Medí, Colombia, the case takes a dramatic turn.

Please have a seat. A local woman approaches DEA agents. How can we help you? She tells them she knows a big American drug dealer.

His name is James Springette. In Medí, Colombia, DEA agents get a big break in the search for drug trafficker James Springette. An informant claims she knows where Springette lives. She basically walked into the DEA office there and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement.

How can I help you? Detective Chris Howell. She indicated he had a penthouse apartment in Medí.

We knew the apartment existed. We just didn't know where it was. The apartment had like muraled ceilings, you know, solid gold faucets. Very expensive apartment.

The woman agrees to give the DEA the location of Springet's apartment. In exchange, she wants a fresh start for her family in the witness protection program.

Authorities agree to the deal. Special Agent Mike Vera Kelly on James. Spring was pretty well insulated in Medí Colombia. Seems to be a haven for highranking drug organization members. Uh so it's traditionally difficult to locate and apprehend an individual for drugs in Medí. The DEA requests an arrest warrant from the FBI and US customs in Augusta, Georgia. Former US customs agent Larry Sap.

The agent there called me and asked me do we actually in fact have a warrant for a James Spring yet. Of course, I enthusiastically told him yes. He asked for me to fax down fingerprints, the pictures, and all the stuff he would need to get him picked up. The DEA also contacts trusted members of the Colombian police. Two Colombian police officers stake out Springet's luxury apartment, waiting for him to appear. To the Colombians, it looks like Springette is leaving for good. They have to move fast. They felt like their surveillance was burning. They better go ahead and arrest him. And that's what they did.

The officers don't have time to wait for backup. They move in. Those two uh stopped the vehicle and arrested Springet and his driver

by themselves, which we thought was mighty courageous, special agent Tim Cox. When I first heard that they had him in custody down in Colombia, I was elated. This was the culmination of the 14-year investigation which started from the lowest level street dealers all the way up to the made man with a Colombian mafia who had the direct Colombian connection supplying cocaine. Agents from the FBI, Customs, and the DEA converge on the Virgin Islands to arrest Spring's associates. Local drug dealers quickly retreat into their fortified mansions.

We probably got dope dealers flushing their dope everywhere on St. Croy. One mansion on St. Thomas is so remote and well protected that Virgin Island police have to repel down the cliff above it and approach it from the rear.

They had walls up around the house. Um, electric gates. There was there was a real security issue on how we could do these things successfully.

House by house, the task force arrests the leadership of the Island Boys. Although they finally have Springet in custody, getting him back to the US proves to be far more difficult than anyone had ever imagined.

He's in custody in Colombia. Yeah. And that's the big problem because extradition out of Colombia is a difficult task. And what made it more difficult is he had citizenship at that point in Colombia.

Investigators will now have to go through a long bureaucratic process to try to extradite him back to the US.

It's like beating a dead horse. I mean, there's nothing you can really do to speed the process. You put in the request and it goes through the channels and then you just wait.

I knew that the longer Jimmy was down there, the longer we didn't have him on American soil in our custody, the greater the chance that that he would either escape or someone would break him out.

While in prison, Springette pays to have luxuries brought in to pass the time in comfort. They have well people that wait on them kind of like orderly to go to get them stuff and if they can't leave the penitentiary they'll go outside the penitentiary and get it and bring it back to them.

On March 1st, 2000, a few days before his extradition becomes final, Springette orders a new mattress.

When the new mattress was delivered to his cell, he was able to insert himself in the new mattress. It was just wide enough to fit his body. And the individual that brought the mattress to him aided him in sewing the mattress back up. So there was no hole. There was no evidence that someone had been inserted into the mattress.

One of the most dangerous drug dealers in the world is carried out of his cell past unsuspecting guards. American drug trafficker James Springette attempts a daring escape from a prison in Colombia sealed inside a mattress.

What do you think of this? FBI special agent Tim Cox. Jimmy got into the mattress. They stitched him back up in there and proceeded to carry him through I think about five checkpoints getting him out of the prison.

He don't like the money. An investigation later shows that Springette paid more than $3 million in bribes to set up his incredible escape. Investigators take the news hard.

James has escaped. I'd put uh 10 years of my investigative career into eventually getting this guy and now he was gone. I I was completely deflated. We had a hard enough time catching him the first time. It was my fear that because he'd been caught one time that we'd never be able to get him again. Detective Chris Howell.

We're back at ground zero trying to figure out where do we go from here. At that point, we have no idea to even, you know, where to look. We have no leads. We have no idea. He could have been anywhere in the world.

Exactly. Agents notify FBI legal attaches at US embassies throughout Latin America. They also notify customs and DEA agents working in those countries.

FBI special agent Mike Varacalli. We basically contacted Interpol. We contacted all the countries we know he has ties to and got the word out as far as where he last was, what he looks like.

There was rumors starting to spread that he had had reconstructive surgery, you know, change his appearance and everything. And he just kind of became like this urban legend, you know, this this guy who was out there, but no one knew how to how to find him.

According to rumors, Springette is living somewhere in Latin America and running his organization by phone.

Jimmy, just like anybody else, has to have an income. When you're spending $5 million on an escape and you're living the lifestyle that he's accustomed to doing, you have to have an income. So, he had uh started generating that income again.

In April 2002, the FBI adds Springette to their list of top 10 fugitives. And to put him on the FBI top most wanted list during this time frame was major because I mean he was sharing sharing poster space with guys like Osama bin Laden at that point.

Investigators also play a few long shots. They set up surveillance on a drug dealer known to be part of Springet's group. Agents wait until they have probable cause and then search him free.

They find a large amount of cocaine and take him into custody. Help us find your uncle. He'll do a lot less time.

Investigators pressure the dealer. What city is he in? I don't know. What country is he in?

He decides to talk. He tells them Spring Ed now lives in Venezuela. He doesn't know which city. He only knows the phone number.

The FBI legal attaches in Venezuela gives the phone number to an elite team of trusted local police officers. Using the phone number and informants, the Venezuelan police locate Springet's home and stake it out.

Uhhuh. But now I have enough time. Springet offered2 to3 million to let just let him walk away from the scene. There are many honest law enforcement officials that there's no amount of money that would entice them to do that. Thankfully, we had some down in Venezuela.

FBI, DEA, and customs agents work to get Springet back to the US as soon as possible. Venezuelan authorities declared him persona nandrada because he's in the country on a false passport and ordering to be removed from the country immediately.

Less than 24 hours after the arrest, Venezuelan police hand over to FBI and customs agents at the airport. Agents fly him back to the United States. He knew that he wouldn't stand a chance going to trial in Augusta, Georgia with all the evidence that had been, you know, mounted against him. I think he knew the only thing he had available to him and his only chance of of ever having, you know, the chance to see the light of day again would be to accept acceptive plea agreement.

Spring pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to import cocaine. The notorious drug lord is sentenced to 35 years without parole.

Hard to beat the significance of this investigation when you talk about a street level case being worked all the way up to a 10 most wanted and and an ultimate capture. It's kind of hard to beat that. It's It's definitely a highlight of my career.

Get on your knees. Get on your Get on. In South Carolina, a family is taken hostage as part of a brazen bank robbery. Police track down the suspects, but they can't seem to keep the leader in jail. The FBI and police in four states are determined to stop him. But the armed fugitive is relentless in his struggle to stay free. Yeah.

When a bank teller arrived at her parents' home, the gunmen were already there. The robbers held her family hostage and forced her to empty a bank vault. If she didn't comply, she could lose everyone she loved. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. Even when authorities caught the crimes mastermind, they couldn't hold him. Soon, he was back in action with the FBI once again on his trail.

The Savannah River marks the state line separating Augusta, Georgia from North Augusta, South Carolina. On the South Carolina side on a Friday afternoon in October 1995, Parker and Brenda Shaw returned home with their granddaughter, Briana. away and hit him.

They watched Briana on Friday afternoons when her mother Amy Shaw worked late as a bank teller.

13. Parker tried to open the garage, but the remote door opener wasn't working.

I'll open the door and you guys can come in. Okay. All right. Not knowing someone was there, he went in the house to open the garage from inside. Shut the door. Shut the door.

Get down there. All right. The two intruders quickly bound Parker with duct tape.

Put your hands in front of me. That's good. Then forced him into the bedroom. Outside, Brenda got tired of waiting. With Briana, she began to walk towards the front door.

When the garage finally opened, come on, lady. Let's go inside. This ain't no game, lady. Let's go. I ain't playing with you. Let's go. Come on. Move it. Move it. Let's go. Come on. Upstairs, lady. Let's go. Let's go. The man forced Brenda into the bedroom where her husband was being held by the other two intruders. What are you doing?

Look, look, lady, cooperate. Nobody get hurt. The gunman stole money and credit cards from the frightened couple.

But then the one who was clearly the leader announced he had really come for the Shaw's daughter, Amy, and the money at her bank.

They would wait for her. The armed intruders held the shaws for more than an hour. Come on,

lady. Sit down. Sit down. At 700 p.m., the lead gunman ordered Brenda into the living room.

All right. Leaving one of his men to guard her husband and granddaughter. At the front window, they watched for Amy. They knew exactly when she was to arrive. Come on, get out of that car.

For Amy Shaw, it was an ordinary Friday evening. The gunman ordered Brenda to the front door. Usually, it was unlocked, so Amy was surprised she couldn't get in. She knew right away something was wrong. Get over there.

The leader grabbed Amy. He told her he had been watching them for some time. He knew their schedules, when they were vulnerable, everything. He began interrogating Amy about the security system at the bank.

Okay. And you have one. Do you have the code? From her training, she knew it was best to comply with the demands.

Is it on the timer? Is the vault on the top? No, there's no code. She said she could get him into the bank, but it took two codes to open the vault, and she only had one.

You ready? All right. Don't try anything funny. All right, turn around. He said they'd deal with that when they got there and warned her if anything went wrong, her family could get hurt.

Okay, the leader announced he was taking Amy to the bank. And told his men to wait for his call.

You guys got everything under control. Any false moves, take care of him. Let's go.

Sorry. Her parents and little girl could only hope that she would not be harmed. As they left, the kidnapper removed his mask to avoid looking suspicious in public. At gunpoint, Amy drove across the Savannah River from South Carolina into Georgia and to the bank where she worked. All the cameras tilted down.

The gunman ordered her to circle the bank slowly so he could check if a cleaning crew was inside. Pulling up next to the automated teller machine. Amy hoped to catch the kidnapper's image on its security camera. Deciding it was clear, he ordered her to drive to the back door. He told her that when they got inside, she was to explain all of her actions so he would know she wasn't setting off any alarms and warned her again not to make any mistakes. inside. She showed him the alarm she could disable

I don't have the entire but as she had explained she could not open the main vault door alone.

She had one combination but a coworker had the other. It's not going to open. The kidnapper reminded Amy that her family would remain safe only if he could get inside the vault.

Get to the vault. At the Shaw residence, the intruders moved the family to the living room where they could watch the front. The Shaws hoped it would end peacefully, but the men seemed to grow agitated, their guns at the ready.

What's wrong? The handgun had gone off accidentally. Somebody come over here, man.

The intruders worried the sound had alerted neighbors and their concern mounted as another car pulled up to the house.

Somebody's coming. Get over. Get over by the door. It was Amy's brother-in-law and sister and their young daughter arriving for a visit.

Mom, they were taken as soon as they entered the house. Here we go. Let's roll, lady. Come on.

Come on. Tie them up. The gunman now had six hostages. At the bank, the lead asalant ordered Amy to call her coworker for the second combination.

Hello, this is When Amy asked, the coworker hesitated, not understanding what was happening.

Amy tried to explain that her family was being held hostage. Get me the combination.

The gunman took over, threatening to come get the code himself. Hey, okay, just calm down. Fearing for Amy's safety, the coworker gave her the second combination.

The gunman made sure the woman stayed on the line so she couldn't call police. Amy nervously punched in the second part of the combination, but the vault remained locked.

You gave me the wrong combination. Make it work or else. She carefully tried again.

And the door opened. Yeah. Get the phone. Get the phone. The robber had Amy make sure the coworker stayed on the line. Um, which one of the packs?

And he ordered her to point out which bins held bait money that was sequentially numbered or rigged with exploding die packs. He left that cash alone. is okay. Just stay on the line. Okay. All right.

After the robber loaded up the money, he ordered Amy to call her parents' home on a second line.

Yo, come on. Get up and get the phone. Pick it up. Run. The leader ordered his men to take care of things at the house, then leave and paid him when they were clear

and get out. He took off with more than $86,000. Once he was gone, Amy set off the alarm to bring help. Then frantic with worry, she called home.

Her mother warned her not to call police. He just The armed men were still there.

Please anybody, but it was too late. She already had. Mom, don't hang up. Mom. The gunman checked the terrified family's bindings. Nobody. Nobody gets hurt. All right.

It seemed like they were going to leave. Still got me. All right. But one hesitated.

Let's go, man. What you doing? Look, I'm out of here, man. Let's go. There were six witnesses to the crime.

Yo, come on, man. Let's go. At 8:00 p.m., Richmond County Sheriff's officers responded to the bank in Georgia and learned the real crime was across the river. The lead investigator was Kenneth Booze. We relayed all the information that we had to the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office and told them that there was a possibility that the family was still being held hostage. Investigator code all

Edgefield County, South Carolina Sheriff's investigator Don Bulock got the call.

We had a family hostage situation. Respond was cold one. That's everything you got. Fast as you can get there. The family had called saying the gunman had left, but the deputies had to be sure. Sheriff's office, open up,

sir. Step back. The deputies checked the house for the intruders. They were gone.

They were safe. Uh, nobody was hurt. Physically, they weren't hurt, but mentally, they had to be shattered. They really went through an ordeal.

The Shaws described the men as best they could. They never saw faces and knew only they were African-Amean males. No,

we still got Navy. All right. The men were armed and aggressive. Come on, man. Let's go. What you doing?

One had held a gun to Parker's head. Look, I'm out of here, man. Let's go. But the shot never came. When the asalants left, the family freed themselves and waited for police to arrive.

Parker explained that the gunman took the keys to his son-in-law's car and described what they were wearing. Deputies put out an APB. As with any bank robbery, the Richmond County authorities notified the FBI.

Special Agent Jerry Jones of the Augusta, Georgia Resident Agency arrived to interview Amy.

She described the leader of the group and the direction in which he fled. She said she might have captured an image of him and told Special Agent Jones about the camera on the ATM. the camera.

She tried to get him into a position where the camera may take a photograph of him.

As it turns out, the camera was activated only when one puts one's card into the machine. So, that didn't work.

The cameras inside didn't catch him either. At the North Augusta crime scene, investigator Bulock arrived and was briefed on the search for evidence. Technicians from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division had found oily shoe prints on the garage floor and photograph them for future comparison if suspects were located.

From inside the house, technicians recovered a single cartridge from the bullet fired in the living room.

It was from a 38 caliber handgun, but had no prints on it. Attempts to recover the asalent's fingerprints elsewhere failed as well since they had worn gloves throughout the crime. At the top of the driveway, investigators located a vehicle stuck in a ditch. The two suspects when they left the house, they were going to take a car and they got the key from the victims in the house and their haste to back out of the driveway. They backed into a ditch and could not get the car out of the ditch, so they had to they left on foot.

The technicians recovered foreign fingerprints from the vehicle. More evidence to compare to any later suspects. Nearby, they located several items they believed had been dropped by the fleeing gunman.

There were several weapons, including a shotgun and a.357 Magnum. Clothes, masks, and gloves found in the bushes matched what the asalants reportedly had worn. Without the clothes, police didn't have much of a description of the suspects.

They updated the already vague APB. Three African-Amean males, two probably on foot, one in a dark blue sedan, armed and considered dangerous. Right.

In 1995, South Carolina and Georgia authorities sought three masked men who held the Shaw family hostage and robbed a bank. Within an hour of the 911 call, an offduty deputy was in route to the Shaw House when he heard the revised APB. He spotted two men roughly fitting the description walking away from the neighborhood where the shores lived.

Hey guys, let me talk to you for just a second. Where you guys coming from? The deputy questioned the pair. According to sheriff's investigator Don

Bullock, they asked him what they were doing there and they said we were up at the church playing basketball and they had no basketball and no transportation.

Backup soon arrived. The deputies knew the church mentioned had no lights on its basketball court. We just need to make sure that you

and being that time of night it was dark. The red flags just flew up. It was, you know, he put two and two together.

If you don't mind, can we just take him back around corner and car? Come on, guys. We'll just clear you up real quick and that'd be enough to

The young men agreed to go to a police staging area near the Shaw House for further questioning.

I'll make sure you don't have anything on you. They were identified as Daniel Evans and Lamarco Rosco. At the bank, FBI special agent Jerry Jones received word of the two men in custody.

South Carolina. I elected to leave the bank because the victim teller was comfortable and uh secure. So, I left uh the bank and went over to South Carolina to interview the two suspects. Jones made it to the police staging area about the same time as the suspects.

He and Sheriff's investigator Kenneth Booze knew that with more than one suspect involved. It was best to talk to them separately.

We separated them because most of the time they'll start breaking down, but they'll start wondering what the other suspect has told us. When they start realizing that the other one might be talking, then they want to be the first one to get on the bandwagon and start cooperating.

The men had been unable to give details about the church where they had allegedly been playing basketball, and investigators sensed they were involved in the crime.

Special Agent Jones began with Lamarco Rosco. you develop a uh a concept of what their greatest fear is, some weakness they may have in their uh their past or or or their uh uh their family or something of that sort. And in this particular case, it was fear of the death penalty that got Rosco's attention.

Jones knew Amy Shaw was safe, but gambled that Rosco did not. He told him his primary concern was Amy's safety.

I told him that he needed to know that if the third robber killed her that he would face the electric chair for his complicity in the robbery. Everything I told him was the truth. My primary interest was the safety and welfare of the victim teller. And it is true that had the third robber killed Amy Shaw, they would both have faced the death penalty.

The suspect soon admitted his involvement in the crime. Where do you stay? When asked for the name of the leader of the group, he said he only knew him by his first name, Chris, and believed his last name started with a J. another law enforcement officer who was familiar with a number of narrative wells in in the Augusta area recognized the name and actually asked if that was in fact Christopher Jabber which he replied that it was.

Jones then interviewed the second suspect Daniel Evans. I told him that his accomplice had already confessed and uh he immediately uh began to tell me the story of what happened that night. I wanted him to confirm the name of the third suspect without prompting and he immediately gave up Christopher Jabberk by name. In talking to Rosco and Evans, investigators realized the two were obviously the followers and Jab Burke was in charge.

They weren't the masterminds of this bank robbery. They were, in my opinion, they were mastermind stooges. They didn't appear to have much knowledge of what was going on except for they had been with Jabert several times in the past few days looking at different banks, coming up with different plans on how to pull this one off. When he was finished with the preliminary interviews, Jones learned a pager number had been recovered from one of the suspects. He asked an officer to call the number. When the returned call came back, the officer identified himself.

The caller said his name was Chris Jabke. When asked, he said he was 100 miles away in Mount Vernon, Georgia. Jabber was defensive and asked the officer if he was being accused of something. Then he hung up. Investigators headed for Jabberk's house right away. As it turns out, law enforcement was very familiar with Christopher Jabber, knew where the residence was without any prompting.

If he was the lead kidnapper, he now knew police were looking for him. And with a head start and $86,000 in cash, Christopher Jab Burke could be anywhere. In October 1995, authorities were seeking Christopher Jabke, wanted for armed kidnapping and bank robbery. At the request of FBI agents and Richmond County deputies, Jabberg's mother called her son on his cell phone and advised him to come talk to authorities.

Around 1:00 a.m., he arrived with his girlfriend. Although only 19 years old, Jabberk was already on a 5-year probation for burglary and escaped from a detention center.

What you do after that? Got a couple questions to ask you. Cooperate. The investigators took him in for questioning.

Yeah, we would just like to verify that and stand. His girlfriend agreed to come in too. At the sheriff's department, FBI special agent Jerry Jones questioned Jabke about the kidnapping of the Shaw family and the bank robbery in Georgia.

I got a phone call from Jabber admitted knowing the two confessed gunmen, Daniel Evans and Lamarco Rosco, but denied any involvement in the crime.

He said he was in Mount Vernon, Georgia with his girlfriend and another female friend at the time in question. We'll try that again.

Jabber at first gave the two girls as his alibi, claiming to have gone with one of the girls to pick up the other girl and then come back to Augusta, Georgia, and stated that he was with the two girls the entire day. And even after they arrived back in August, Georgia, they went to a movie together, all three of them.

Going outside to see the two girls. Temporarily halting the interview, Jones went to talk to the girlfriend and the second friend who had come to the station at the request of investigators. The two girls when interviewed uh declined to corroborate that uh that alibi.

All right, the two girls don't back up the story. Jabberg quickly tried to come up with a new alibi. According to Richmond County Sheriff's investigator Kenneth Booze,

he said that he couldn't tell us his whereabouts at the time of the robbery because he was involved in some other criminal activity. It was a drug deal in Atlanta, Georgia. According to him,

two guys named Ros Jabber's new story didn't convince anyone. Federal authorities charged him with six counts, including conspiracy, carjacking, kidnapping, and armed bank robbery. All right.

After further interviews with Jabberk, uh he finally started cooperating and told us that he was involved in this this robbery and kidnapping and that uh he was actually the one that did it, but he wasn't the mastermind, that he was involved with some largecale criminal organization and that he couldn't reveal any more information because he was afraid for his family. You decide you want to tell the truth.

It was another obvious lie by a man desperately trying to protect himself. Jabber's partners, Daniel Evans and Lamarco Rosco, pleaded guilty to state charges of burglary, kidnapping, and armed robbery. They were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Christopher Jabberk was prosecuted by assistant US attorney Richard Goulsby.

The only problem with this case was that there was no scientific evidence. It seemed like we hit a dead end every time we got a lab report uh as to any fingerprints or footprints. None of them matched to Burke. But in terms of the quality of the evidence, uh we were very fortunate that the teller victim and her family members were just incredibly good witnesses. Uh they helped win the case.

Jabk was convicted on all six counts which made him eligible for a sentence of life in prison without parole. While awaiting sentencing, Jabber was held at a small county jail. There he met another inmate. Jerome Frierson Bay, also a bank robber, was awaiting trial on three armed robberies. At the time, the jail was undergoing construction to expand the facility.

Pass that one guard, not that door. There was plenty of time to plan an escape. Yeah. Go for it.

Yeah, I think I see you, man. Right around noon. But on March 27th, 1996, a guard on routine patrol noticed an open door.

A head count revealed two inmates were missing. Christopher Jabber and Jerome Frierson Bay. Construction workers had seen two prisoners running toward a wooded area near the prison. Search teams combed the woods, but no one spotted the men. The search moved into the area's denser forest of swamps, and helicopters flew grid patterns overhead. Still nothing. Authorities believe the pair might have had help on the outside.

Police tried to seal the perimeter, putting up roadblocks to stop and check vehicles. But the two escapees were nowhere to be found.

Jabber's escape posed a danger to the Shaw family who had testified at his trial.

We needed to contact the victim's family members and let them know about it and uh to take other uh precautions that you would in a in a situation like this. While the search continued, Edgefield County, South Carolina deputies began spot checks on the Shaw family to make sure they were safe.

I was convinced that at some point in time, uh, he would come back to the mother. We established a surveillance, 24-hour surveillance of the mother and the girlfriend. Authorities watched, but Jabke never showed.

Then FBI special agent Doug Fender developed a surprising lead. Myself and other local law enforcement officials were conducting a separate autotheft investigation in the Augusta, Georgia area concerning the theft of a Green Mitsubishi Eclipse. We were able to identify an individual in jail who indicated that he had transferred this stolen vehicle to one of the female associates of Jabber.

Agents interviewed the young woman at the hotel where she worked. Initially, she denied any knowledge of the jailbreak, but special agent Fender tried to get her to cooperate. This job is uh mainly about talking to people. When you put all the uh fancy forensic techniques and uh those sorts of things aside, probably the success of uh most agents is based upon their ability to solicit information from individuals and um and make them uh tell them something that they probably don't want to share with you. When she realized she herself could go to jail, she admitted helping in the escape.

She said that she and Jabke's girlfriend delivered a stolen car to a parking lot near a wooded area by the prison. After he escaped from the jail, he just got into the getaway car and made his escape with Frierson Bay. They uh by pre-arrangement went to a clandestine campsite uh which the girls had laid out for Jabber and Frierson Bay with clothes and water and and that type of thing.

The escapees easily found the stashed clothes, food, and weapons. They were free, but they needed money. The armed bank robbers knew exactly what to do. In 1996, escaped prisoners Christopher Jaburk and Jerome Frierson Bay fled a county jail in a stolen car. FBI special agent Jerry Jones was after them.

We began a search for the stolen vehicle and we sent out an APB to all surrounding states regarding the description of the vehicle.

The day after the escape, a car matching that description pulled up to a bank in Lumberton, North Carolina, 220 mi northeast of the jail.

All right. Just take the money. Two men in hats, gloves, and sunglasses robbed the bank at gunpoint.

The employees knew to cooperate so no one would get hurt. Come on, man. Lumberton police and North Carolina FBI agents responded to the scene. They determined $4,500 had been taken from the bank's vault.

Security cameras were rolling during the robbery. The images were too blurry to make out faces, but the descriptions given by employees resembled Jabber and Frierson Bay.

And the car they left in matched the one the fugitives had. I'll be there. Thanks. The car was the best lead for special agent Doug Fender.

This vehicle we had entered into NCIC and we discovered uh or was notified by the Lumberton police officials that that car had in fact been recovered in Lumberton, North Carolina. An hour after that car was found, agents received a report of a home invasion and carjacking in Lumberton and went to interview the victims. The couple said they had been working on their car in the garage when two armed men burst in demanding the keys to the car and a change of clothes.

then left as quickly as they had arrived. When shown a photo lineup, the couple positively identified Jaburk and Frierson Bay. And

that's the guy that came up on the left side. So we had a second vehicle and we had an APB put out on that car. It was spotted in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jabber and Frierson Bay robbed a bank there.

The fugitives were heading north fast. We knew that Frierson Bay had relatives in the New York, New Jersey area, so we suspected that to be the ultimate destination.

Tracking the pair became a matter of following a trail of bank robberies. What we noticed was a trend of bank robberies that were occurring up and down the I95 corridor. At the time we were tracking uh Frierson Bay and Jabberk, we uh suspected them in approximately 11 to 14 bank robberies up and down the east coast. In some of the robberies, men matching the description of one or both of the fugitives were captured on surveillance video. We were able through photographic surveillance and also witness uh identification to established that the two of them were together at least until they reached the Fredericksburg, Virginia area.

Agents focused their search in New Jersey where Frierson Bay had family. Based upon two tips that were called into a nationally televised program, Fergus Bay was tracked to a motel located in the Patterson, New Jersey area. A surveillance by members of the New Jersey FBI office was established. Once these agents were able to establish that Friars Bay uh might be staying in the motel room, they remained on the premises.

If he were inside and armed, approaching the door would be dangerous. It was decided to wait him out.

Soon they would learn the fugitive would not go down without a struggle. Hey, look at this. Put your hands over there.

After two escaped prisoners committed a string of armed bank robberies, agents believe they had tracked one of them, Jerome Frierson Bay, to a New Jersey motel.

127. After several hours, they spotted the fugitive. He went to his car as the SWAT team moved in.

Police, get out of the car. Get out of the car. We see your hands. Get out of the car.

He locked himself inside. But that wasn't going to stop him. According to FBI special agent Doug Fender.

After several commands by members of the FBI SWAT team, Ferson Bay still refused to come out of the vehicle. at which time one of the SWAT team members was able to break the glass with the butt of his MP5 submachine gun. Fire somebody was then forcibly removed from the vehicle

from his car. The SWAT team recovered a loaded 40 caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun along with $1,500 in stolen cash. A search of the motel revealed no sign of his partner, Christopher Jabber.

Yeah, you do. We'll go find it. Jerome Frierson Bay pleaded guilty to 10 bank robberies and was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole. He claimed he had no idea where Jabber was. Finding Christopher Jabber remained a priority for Georgia FBI special agent Jerry Jones. We believe that Jabber and Frierson Bay parted company and Jabber began his journey back to Georgia. I always believed that Jabber would come back home. The FBI announced a $10,000 reward and had begun the process of adding him to their 10 most wanted fugitives list when a media report generated a promising lead.

Just a moment. A caller said she believed the fugitive was staying with her minister in Atlanta. Though the minister didn't know Jabber was a criminal.

The caller spotted Jabberk when she went to check on the minister's house after the elderly man entered the hospital with heart trouble. An arrest team staked out the residence dressed as yard workers. On May 9th, 1996, a vehicle pulled into the minister's driveway. When the driver emerged, agents visually identified him.

What's going on? It was finishing up the yard work for the old man. Hands up. The arrest team moved in.

Hands up, FBI. Hands up. Hands up. Hey, what's going on? Surprised and cornered, Jabber did not try to run.

Hey, hold up, man. What do I do? In a minute. All right. When they searched him, agents found $2,000 in his side.

Hey, hey, hey. What's this? What is it? Put your AA in for What is this? He was returned to jail again to await sentencing for the Augusta kidnapping bank robbery. When Jabbert was apprehended in Atlanta, we thought the pressure was off and everybody took a big sigh of relief and went home for a short period of time. Jabberk was not giving up.

6 weeks after his recapture, he once again broke out of his cell. When Jabber escaped and I received the telephone call, I responded to the jail to try to uh secure whatever evidence was there. We found a uh partial saw blade. When he got through the window of the jail, there's a huge double fence around the confinement area covered with Constantina wire. So, he had to get over that fence and over the Constantina wire.

Agents searched the grounds and the fence topped with a razor sharp wire. They recovered shreds of a prison uniform

and we actually found traces of blood there so we knew he was injured but he was on foot.

They hoped he hadn't gotten far. So we began to to trail him through this rural wooded area which also leads to a swampy area probably around 10 square miles. We immediately brought in tracking dogs which led us directly to the wooded area. So we knew the the route of escape that he was trying to accomplish. as old as I was out with the younger people going through the woods and we tracked through there for days for several days without finding him. I then decided that we needed some uh electronic gear to try to trace him.

So I contacted the Atomic Energy Commission site over in South Carolina and they provided me with a u a helicopter equipped with an infrared system that's a heat seeking system. They searched dozens of square miles with a highly sensitive equipment, but somehow Jabbert managed to avoid detection and was still on the run.

4 days later, an offduty sheriff's deputy in nearby Appling, Georgia, thought he spotted the fugitive. The man was limping as if injured.

The deputy called the station and other officers spread out to search the area. walking in. Yeah, I I see him.

He was uh tracked into a a wooded area right behind one of the grammar schools and apprehended

right there. Christopher Jabber was again in custody. Two weeks later, he was finally sentenced for robbing the Augusta Bank and kidnapping Amy Shaw and her family. Assistant US Attorney Richard Goulsby fought to keep Jabberk off the streets forever.

Our role is to try to protect the community. That's one of our important responsibilities. So, we were concerned and felt like that we should ask for the maximum in Jabber's case and fortunately the court imposed the maximum life in prison plus 5 years. Jabber was ordered to serve his term at the federal prison in Levvenworth, Kansas. Without the possibility of parole, his only chance to be free again would be to escape.

Several weeks into his sentence, Jabber was caught trying to do exactly that by hanging on underneath a prison laundry truck. Come on out now.

Come out. Nice and slow there. I see you. Come out. Nice and slow. Come on. Get out of there.

He had almost made it to the front gate. Jabber was transferred to the maximum security federal penitentiary in Atlanta Georgia. Even if Harry Houdini was in the Atlanta Federal Pin, he wouldn't be able to get out. And Christopher Jabber is no Harry Houdini. No one doubts Jabber will try again. But now he is held in one of the most secure prisons in America.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. We got heat.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Craziest Escapes: 3 Unstoppable Fugitives Caught By The FBI"?

Jim Calstrom (Host), Paul Zeman (Guest), Michael Wayman (Guest), Joe Ganon (Guest), Craig Welcon (Guest), Bradley Martin (Guest), Carolyn King (Guest).

What is "The Craziest Escapes: 3 Unstoppable Fugitives Caught By The FBI" about?

The main topic revolves around the investigation of two dangerous fugitives who escape from prison with the assistance of an accomplice, evading law enforcement by leaving a trail of fraud and violence across state lines. The narrative details the relentless efforts of the FBI and police to track them down amidst the grim discovery of a murder scene that underscores the urgency of their capture.

What is mentioned in this The FBI Files episode?

30 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Bradley Martin, FBI, Guy Goodman, Donna Martz, Palmyra, Pennsylvania, Augusta, Georgia. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Craziest Escapes: 3 Unstoppable Fugitives Caught By The FBI"?

The episode runs 2 h 29 min; the transcript is about 18,894 words in 441 timestamped sections.

More from The FBI Files

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 25, 2026.