The International Criminal Police Organization,
aka, Interpol, is tasked with bringing to justice the worst criminals in the world. Today we’ll
meet the Most Wanted Americans on that list. 10. Jason Derek Brown
Maybe you’ve met this guy and you didn’t even know it, although he might have introduced
himself as Derek Brown, or maybe Greg Johnson or Harline Johnson or Greg Harline Johnson. You might
have even met him in a French-speaking nation, seeing as he’s fluent in French. He’s also
said to be armed and extremely dangerous, so perhaps it’s better you didn’t meet him.
His story is a strange one. For a while, he walked and cycled around France as one of those
smartly dressed Mormon missionaries you seem to see in just about every country. On returning
to the US, he opened a couple of businesses that he ran out of Utah. There he spent big and
pretended to live the life of a wealthy person, although much of his cash came from scams.
It seems he must have run out of cash in 2004. That’s the year he went out and
bought a .45 caliber Glock pistol. Shortly after, on November 29 that year,
he watched a young, armored car guard named Robert Keith Palomares collect the
deposits from the Phoenix AMC theater. It was then that a hooded man, believed to be
Brown, unloaded his gun into him, shooting him five times in the head. The gunman then grabbed
$56,000 in cash and made a getaway using a bicycle. Fingerprints from the bike pointed to
Brown, who was charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery.
But where is he? Well, that’s what the FBI and Interpol
have been trying to figure out. The FBI knew he drove around the US for a while
after he realized he was a wanted man, but then the agency said he became a “ghost.”
The trouble is, he looks a bit like a scraggly-haired surfer dude and
there are plenty of them about, so there have been umpteen false sightings of
Brown. Even one of Sean Penn’s body doubles was arrested when he was mistaken for Brown.
Where this Shaggy lookalike is now is anyone’s guess. There are theories stating he could
have changed his name and be somewhere in a small Mormon community, or he’s currently
living in Quebec, Canada, or possibly as far away as France or Thailand. That’s why
Interpol has him on its Red Notice List. The FBI is offering a $200,000 reward
for the capture of Brown, but as we said, he’s dangerous so shouldn’t be approached.
As you’ll see now, some terrible people wanted by Interpol are not exactly in hiding.
9. John Lytus In 2016, this convicted sex offender
was found guilty of aggravated assault and kidnapping in what was an
astonishingly violent crime involving a homeless pregnant woman in Florida.
He’d been arrested for similar offenses twice in the US in 1986 and 2009. When the judge
sentenced him this last time he said, “He's not going to hurt anybody ever again.”
He might be in prison in the US, but the reason we told this story is this man is still
wanted in Nicaragua, again for violent crimes. Just because you get sentenced in one country
doesn’t mean you are off the hook in another, so your name stays on the list.
Ok, now for an extremely dangerous man who’s been on the run for a long, long time.
8. William Bradford Bishop Jr. In 1976, this former United States Foreign
Service officer shot and killed his wife, mother, and three sons. Even though he’s
now in his 80s if he’s alive and kicking, he’s still called a “dangerous fugitive” by the
FBI and is actively being looked for by Interpol. What went wrong with this guy is a bit
of a mystery. He was highly educated, gaining a degree at Yale University in his
younger years. He then started working for the US intelligence services and later the
US State Department. He was useful, too, seeing as he is fluent in five languages- English,
Italian, French, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish. On March 1, 1976, he drew out a load of cash
in the town where he lived in Maryland. He then bought a sledgehammer, gas can, a shovel, and a
pitchfork. He returned home and bludgeoned his wife to death. After that, he went looking
for his mother while she was walking a dog and he did the same to her. He then
went back home and killed his kids. The FBI says he was prone to outbursts
and didn’t sleep very well. It’s said he suffered from depression and to ease that
he drank vast amounts of Scotch. He also took psychiatric medications and had spent some time
at a mental institution prior to the murders. The question is, could he still be out
there somewhere after all this time? The FBI thinks that’s possible given he is
intelligent and very savvy when it comes to outdoor survival. He has extensive
camping and hiking experience in Africa and even flew planes there, so he could
quite easily have gone off the grid and survived. He could be in Africa, but with those
language skills of his, he could be anywhere. If you think that story is messed up, listen to this one.
7. Leo Frederick Burt This is the only terrorist on the list, but
we should say Interpol is currently looking for quite a few more. We should also
point out right now that the majority of wanted people are on the list for sex offenses.
Leo Frederick Burt’s case is one that stands out. On August 24, 1970, a bomb went off at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison campus and a professor was killed. Others were injured, too.
It was soon discovered that the people behind this crime did it in protest of the university’s
military research during the Vietnam War. As many of you know, a lot of folks in the US
weren’t happy about that war, and that’s why at the time of the university bombing you would have
seen students walking about carrying protest signs that read, “U.S. out of Vietnam! Smash Army Math!”
Four guys planted the bomb, with three of them eventually being arrested
and serving time in prison. Burt was the one that got away. For 50 years
authorities have searched high and low for him, following leads that took them from Canada
to Costa Rica. An FBI agent once said, “He’s got to be worried every day that he’s going
to slip up and get caught. That’s no way to live.” His life was indeed wrecked after that crime.
Once a young journalist with a bright future ahead of him and with a close family he loved, he
fell off the face of the planet. Wherever he is, he’s in his 70s and likely not as fast on his
feet. The FBI will still give anyone $150,000 for information that leads to his arrest.
Now it’s time to put a woman on this list, someone wanted for committing an outrageous crime.
6. Catherine Marie Kerkow On June 3, 1972, Western Airlines Flight 701,
set off from California on its way to Seattle. Aboard were Cathy Kerkow and her army veteran
boyfriend Roger Holder. Sometime into the journey, Holder passed a flight attendant a note that read:
“Everyone, except the Captain, will leave the Cabin. There are four of us and two
bombs. Do as you’re told and No shooting will take place.” He then showed her a
briefcase that had wires attached to it. The demand was for $500,000 in ransom
and the release of a political activist named Angela Davis. Kerkow and Holder saw
themselves as activists, too, railing against racism in the USA and also the war in Vietnam.
By all accounts, after they dropped off the passengers in San Francisco, the two directed
the flight to Algeria and on the way smoked some weed and joined the Mile High Club. Things
didn’t go too well there, and the pair left for France, where they were arrested.
Holder was extradited to the US, but what happened to Kerkow has remained a
mystery. She’s still wanted on air piracy charges to this day. In 2019, the FBI stated
that this woman was “armed and dangerous.” If you meet her, she might be going under
the name of Odile Pesse or Janice Ann Forte, but that beautiful face of hers will have
changed a bit seeing as she’s now 75. Now for something very different indeed.
5. Lorrie John Trites This man used to be the head swim coach at a
Pennsylvania college, but he was discovered doing something that appalled his students, the
college, and just about everyone else who heard about what he’d done. When swimming practice
was over, Trites would take videos of teens and women getting changed in the dressing rooms.
Some women saw the camera hidden in towels while they were undressing, so they handed it over
to the most respectable person in the vicinity, the man they could trust, coach Trites. He
then tried to delete the content, but cops soon knew it was him who had planted the camera.
His crime came as a huge shock to the community, given that he had a solid reputation after
founding the Trident Aquatic Club in Lancaster County. He was also friendly with many
of the people at the local golf club, who also admired him. This was a guy that had
accreditation with pretty much every swimming association in the US, and he was also a perv.
He was charged in 1998 a year after the videos had been taken. As well as the six counts of violating
Pennsylvania’s wiretap law he was charged with, he was also charged with tampering with evidence
for deleting some of the content on the tapes. Sometime later, he left all of his worldly
belongings behind and headed to Trinidad. That’s where he might be now,
possibly teaching swimming or golf. If you see him, he might be going under the name
of Buddy. He’s also hard to miss, given the fact he is six feet seven inches tall. While he didn’t
commit a violent crime, the FBI says he should be considered armed and dangerous. Who knows what
a person will do if they think the jig is up. The next guy on the list was a cop himself, so
understandably he doesn’t want to go to prison. 4. Al Gurkan
In 2005, Gurkan was charged with the crime of stealing drugs from dealers on the streets
while he was on the job as a police officer. No sooner than he was charged, he vanished. His
last known address was in Hollywood, California, but his present address is a mystery. The
FBI seems to think he might be in Turkey. For stealing heroin, cocaine, and
marijuana with a couple of accomplices, he faces charges of drug conspiracy, possession
with intent to deliver narcotics, and possession of a firearm while dealing narcotics.
It was a simple setup the guys had. The accomplices would call up a dealer and say
they wanted to buy a fairly large amount of drugs. When the exchange was about to happen, guess
who would turn up and do a traffic stop? Gurkan. They all then sold the
drugs and shared the spoils. As you’ll see now, just as in that case, a lot
of regular street crimes make their way onto Interpol’s list.
3. Jason Liu Like many young guys in the US, Liu made
the sometimes fatal mistake of thinking it would be a good idea to join a street gang
and make mortal enemies of other gangs. That got serious on September 13, 2000, in
Fullerton, California, when he and some others in his gang decided to go head-to-head with a rival
gang. This was over an argument that had taken place between two rival gang members in a bar.
Liu and his buddies were driving when they spotted the other gang. It was reportedly
Liu who then shouted the words, “Blast them.” That happened and it ended with
one young man dead, and three others injured. Liu’s buddies got some serious time in
prison after that, but he’s still on the run. It’s thought he might be in South Korea or Taiwan.
Now back to someone who has made it onto the FBI’s top ten most wanted people in America.
2. Robert William Fisher This guy once belonged to the United States
Navy. He tried to become a Navy SEAL, but after failing, he made his way in life
with some decent jobs, such as stints as a firefighter and respiratory therapist.
Fisher had a problem, though, and that was his controlling attitude towards his wife and
children. He even gave his son a hard time because he didn’t like to hunt or fish, as he did. A
church-going man, from the outside, things looked fine, but to people that knew him, he was a mess.
Psychologists later said that childhood trauma over his parents’ divorce and the fact his wife
was going to divorce him sent him over the edge. A long way over he went, too, when in
2001 he killed his wife and two children and blew up his house. He then vanished.
Since he was a skilled outdoorsman it was thought for a while he was hiding out
in forested areas in Arizona or perhaps even living in caves. His truck was soon found
near Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, and he was spotted nearby by some walkers.
In 2002, he got on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List and a $100,000 reward was offered for any
information that might lead to an arrest, but even though police received hundreds upon
hundreds of tip-offs, Fisher either remained out in the wilderness or started a new life somewhere.
Given his survival skills, he could be in a remote part of the US or Canada,
but even with those skills, it would be a longshot if he were still living
without cash to his name in the back of beyond. On the FBI’s website, it states that if he is
still alive he will no doubt be heavily armed, so approaching him would not
be something anyone should do. This last wanted man has to be the oldest guy ever
to make the list, so even if he’s caught we doubt he’ll ever serve much of his 280-year sentence.
1. Prakashanand Saraswati This man offered people spiritual enlightenment,
and as so often can be the case with powerful gurus who take people under their God-like
wings, they exploit people’s trust, and do something terrible.
In the 60 and 70s, Saraswati spent much of his time wandering
alone in far-off regions in the Himalayas, finding himself in forests learning how to devote
his life to eternal love and spirituality. When he emerged from out of nowhere, he started the
“Society of Divine Love” in India in 1975. He wrote books, including “The Philosophy of
Divine Love” and opened centers to teach such love around the world. One of the centers
became the largest Hindu Temple in the USA, complete with an ashram on a huge plot of land.
That’s still there, but it has distanced itself from its founder after he was charged
with using his power to take advantage of some of the younger female members who
stayed there. They came forward when they were adults and what they said ended with the
courts convicting Saraswati of 20 offenses. He was subsequently sentenced to 280 years in prison.
Except he didn’t spend one day in prison because he didn’t even show up for his trial. This was
back in 2011 when he was 82-years old. This man said to be able to live in a state of “conscious
ecstasy”, a man that can reach higher planes than the rest of us, was also capable of magically
gliding through the hands of law enforcement. He might have made some people believe he
could elevate them above their day-to-day state of consciousness, but when push came
to shove, he was also able to make very down to Earth plans with his followers to sneak
into Mexico and somehow get over to India. He’s one of the few people on this list
the FBI doesn’t say is armed and dangerous, and at 92 it’s a miracle he’s still on
the loose. According to US authorities, the reason the “fondling guru” is able to remain
on the run is his dedicated devotees. The US Marshall’s office said, “There are people that
we've talked to who are devoted followers of his and they will sacrifice criminal charges
and prosecution to help his flight.” Now listen to this unsolved mystery, “Brutal
True Story of What They Didn't Tell You About the Burger Chef Massacre.” Or, have a
look at, “Hotel Where People Keep Dying.”
