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Post by Scumhunter on Aug 20, 2013 9:30:33 GMT -5
As I've stated before, I love AMW and there's only one thing I don't miss about the show- it made me paranoid. Every week I'd think I saw someone from the previous week's show. I've gotten better at my paranoia and with the exception of one guy (or girl) who resembled a fugitive who I'll decline to talk about, I have yet to send in a tip to AMW this year.  However, I know thinking we see a fugitive from the show is not unique and would love for anyone here to share their stories if they have them. Did they just look like them? Did you send in a tip as well? I know Pakman has a few stories and 912th as well at least. P.S. If this isn't just a "resembles" and you think you've actually seen a fugitive who is still on the run, please don't post it here but send in the tip to AMW. I will embarrass myself if I talk about the zillion times I thought I saw a fugitive but unlike the old thread on AMW.COM, I'll actually give out examples. These are only a few I picked out for various reasons since they had the most interesting stories behind them. 2003-ish- After Mustapha "Mo" Atat's original profiles, I was in a McDonalds near Grand Central station when I was still going to college. It was a three story McDonald's and as I was going up the steps. I saw a group of men eating lunch who appeared to be maintenance workers and one looked a lot like Atat. In addition, the guy for some reason seemed to keep looking behind him. I think he even had a pock mark on his face like Atat. For some reason though, I got a feeling it wasn't him but just a weirdo and although my memory is foggy I don't think I sent in a tip. Of course, this proved to be paranoia since it turned out he fled to the United Arab Emirates, who unfortunately won't extradite him. Sometimes I still have guilt though and wonder "well what if he fled to NY initially?" but that is probably my earliest example. 2006- I was at a comedy club and one of the guy's hanging out at the bar area looked a lot like Arthur Vitasek. Vitasek was a wanted child molester and a member of John Walsh's dirty dozen at the time. I even sent in a tip. But soon after he was indirectly captured in Texas. So needless to say, probably wasn't him. 2012- Last year on vacation in San Francisco, one of the guys in a store I went to helping me out with something (I'll decline to say where since it might be too easy to figure out where this is) looked a lot like current fugitive Omar Arenal. He even had blondish/orange highlights in his hair and Arenal was wanted in Berkley which is not far from San Francisco. I remembered his name tag, and Googled him, only to see his linkedin profile to learn he was the store's manager and see all his credentials and charitable organizations he was a part of. I don't think Arenal's that creative, and combined that with the fact Arenal is believed to be in Vera Cruz, Mexico, and I was satisfied it wasn't him and it was just paranoia. So anyway, what are your paranoia stories? |
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Post by HeadMarshal on Aug 20, 2013 9:36:36 GMT -5
I don't have any real paranoia stories but I would like to say there are a ton of older men who resemble the age-enhanced photo of John Gentry.
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Post by Scumhunter on Aug 20, 2013 9:40:11 GMT -5
I don't have any real paranoia stories but I would like to say there are a ton of older men who resemble the age-enhanced photo of John Gentry. That is true. I also feel there are a few fugitives where even if you don't think it's actually the fugitive you've seen at least one guy who resembles them. For example, Jason Derek Brown and even Paul Winklebleck. Might explain why they haven't been caught yet since imo there are so many guys who look like the former of plain white surfer dudes and the latter of Larry The Cable Guy-esque heavy set guys. |
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Post by pakman on Aug 22, 2013 7:40:15 GMT -5
As I've said a number of times on this and other forums, I have had a number of paranoia stories regarding AMW fugitives. Here's a couple of the more memorable ones:
2002 - We had a morning assembly at my junior high one day, and for some reason my attention kept getting directed to my language arts teacher, who had just been hired that year (and who had been my teacher for the past month or so). I got a really nervous feeling when I looked at him and realized he bore a scary resemblance to the sketch of Ali Kemp's killer. I was scared and confused and wasn't sure if I should call in the tip or not. This is going to sound terrible, but part of me didn't want to do it because he was such a nice guy and I didn't want to believe it was him. I got a little encouraged when I checked out amw.com and saw the killer was believed to be in his 20s-30s and this guy was in his late-40s. My teacher's head was also more round than the fugitive in the sketch. As we all know, Benjamin Appleby was captured in 2004 and charged with Ali Kemp's murder. Not only did he give a full confession, but he also worked as a pool maintenance man, which corroborated what police had believed all along.
2005 - My family and I had just flown back to Chicago after a Caribbean cruise and were milling about trying to find our baggage and get to the lobby. My uncle was set to pick us up, and we were trying to quickly find him. I'd gotten my bags and as I made my way through the baggage claim area, I made direct eye contact with a guy who almost made me do a double-take; he looked EXACTLY like Paul Eischeid. Not only that, but it was the same photo of him that amw.com had as his main photo on his fugitive page, and he was giving the same facial expression. But by the time we'd gotten to a phone, I wasn't sure if I should submit the tip or not. After all, saying a guy who looked like Paul Eischeid was at O'Hare airport probably wasn't going to be enough to find him. For all I knew, his plane had left by the time we'd gotten home. Eischeid was captured in 2011 in Argentina.
2005/2006 - This was the one I mentioned in a previous thread where a security guard at my high school looked very similar to Jean-Marie Jean-Francois. However, I soon ruled it out after looking at a number of old yearbooks. The security guard had been hired in 2002, before Jean-Francois became a fugitive. There's also the fact he didn't have a Haitian accent. Jean-Francois is still at large.
2007 - Once again, a Caribbean cruise vacation with my family led to a potential fugitive sighting. We had stopped off on one of the islands (can't remember which one) and were walking back to our cruise. That's when I noticed, walking in the opposite direction, was a man who looked EXACTLY like Rafael Cadena-Sosa. Same hair style, same build, same mustache, same everything. This time, I knew I was going to do something. As soon as I got back to the ship, I went to the internet cafe and submitted a tip to amw.com. But as I was typing up my information, I realized how vague the information sounded. He was walking opposite of me on this island, I didn't know which cruise he was on (there were about three other cruise ships there along with ours) and I didn't know if he was even on a cruise ship to begin with. Not surprisingly, the tip didn't seem to go anywhere, though I don't really blame them. Odds are it wasn't Cadena-Sosa, but it was still weird.
Those are some of my more memorable "fugitive sightings."
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Post by Scumhunter on Aug 22, 2013 8:58:12 GMT -5
The Eischeid "sighting" reminds me of several times where I thought someone resembled a fugitive somewhere like on a subway train or walking down a street in midtown, where I knew even on the extremely slim chance it was them, it would really prove little to no value. This is also reminds me of the time I saw a disheveled looking guy that looked like an AMW fugitive walking by a bus stop I was at once who actually yelled at me in gibberish apparently angry I looked at him. But besides saying the guy walked by me at a bus stop which would not have helped at all tip-wise, I doubt it was him since A) This is New York City, so he easily could have just been a nutcase. and B) This is New York City. Where you get cursed at if you make even make accidental or indirect eye contact with anyone. And in this case, it was intentional eye contact. |
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Post by charliesetten on Sept 6, 2013 18:17:13 GMT -5
I thought i saw roger Alan giese the child molester, in an airport in ft launderdale florida. It looked a lot like him enough for me to send a tip in, regardless now i doubt it was him. Another time i thought i saw fugitive omar grey! Til this day i still believe it mightve been him, i sent a tip in and everything i had a feeling it was him, i saw him in a Hartford ct church which is weird ik. But regardless i actually think it mightve been him because it said he could be in ct or nc.
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Post by Scumhunter on Sept 6, 2013 18:25:51 GMT -5
I thought i saw roger Alan giese the child molester, in an airport in ft launderdale florida. It looked a lot like him enough for me to send a tip in, regardless now i doubt it was him. Another time i thought i saw fugitive omar grey! Til this day i still believe it mightve been him, i sent a tip in and everything i had a feeling it was him, i saw him in a Hartford ct church which is weird ik. But regardless i actually think it mightve been him because it said he could be in ct or nc. Regardless of it was them, it is nice you sent in a tip! I would always give that advice to people that if you think you might have seen a fugitive but are on the fence about it, send in the tip anyway. The worst you can be is wrong, which isn't so bad. |
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Post by theczar on Sept 9, 2013 21:50:23 GMT -5
Back in 2003, I was walking through a mall in southern Illinois when I walked past a man who resembled Angel Tello. Tello, if you don't remember, was wanted on charges of robbery and attempted murder. Him and another man robbed a fast food place and fired at a cop after fleeing the scene back in 2000. Tello fled with his 13 year old girlfriend, who gave birth to their kid. Two years later, he was profiled on AMW, and his now 15 year old girlfriend was pregnant with their second kid. Now, not only did this guy resemble Tello to a tee, but he was with this young women who looked like she was about to pop at any minute. I was only 12 at the time, but I wondered if I should've reported it. Luckily, Tello was arrested just a few months later, but it's always something I wondered.
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Post by ja2013 on Sept 14, 2013 12:23:56 GMT -5
I could have sworn I saw Robert Fisher at a Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve of last year, the resemblance was remarkable. I didn't call on it however because it's such a common look and particularly the area I was in, it would be very unlikely he would be there since there's many people from various states and he would quickly be recognized.
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Post by Scumhunter on Sept 14, 2013 12:47:05 GMT -5
You never know but it would be weird. Interesting how so many people have stories about people who resembled fugitives though. Glad to know its' not just me. |
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Post by ja2013 on Sept 14, 2013 12:51:58 GMT -5
You never know but it would be weird. Interesting how so many people have stories about people who resembled fugitives though. Glad to know its' not just me. It mostly boils down to us thinking about these people and hoping to have them apprehended but it's happened more than once and it's kind of surprising how similar some people look to these criminals. |
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Post by King Of Clubs on Jan 4, 2015 11:55:19 GMT -5
I was at my Local Grocery Store last year and i had an odd feeling about my cashier, who was really old, probably in his late 70's or early 80's. Oddly, he facially resembled Donald Eugene Webb, who would be about that age if alive. As soon as i got outside the store, i called the FBI about my finding. I know it almost certainly wasn't Webb, but that is the only time i thought i might have saw any fugitive.
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Post by pakman on Jan 27, 2015 12:33:51 GMT -5
The recent update in Timothy Coombs case made me remember that I thought I once spotted him back in 2003. That year, I was a freshman in high school, and I remember seeing a teacher walking through the hallways that looked like Coombs if he'd grown a long ponytail and his hair had gone gray. His facial hair looked just like the photo AMW constantly aired of him. But then I discovered this guy - a special ed teacher - had been working for the school since the late 80s, before Coombs even went on the run. Besides, Coombs was apparently losing his hair - it wouldn't have made sense for him to grow a long ponytail And not technically a "fugitive" sighting, but a couple years ago when I was in New York City, I'm convinced I saw Joey Buttafuoco walking down the street. |
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