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Published on Thursday, September 11, 2003
in the Naples Daily News
Law enforcement agencies across the country have been hunting for Walter N. Rhodes — the Florida Highway Patrol's most wanted fugitive — since 1994.
But FHP Lt. Paul Henry of Naples found Rhodes in a matter of hours last week.
Henry says he was still in high school in 1976 when Rhodes shot and killed state Trooper Philip Black and off-duty Canadian Constable Donald Irwin at a rest area in Broward County.
Rhodes, along with Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs and Jessie Tafero, was convicted of the murders. Tafero was executed in 1990. Jacobs received a death sentence, but the court later reversed it. She was released in 1992 for time served and her case was the subject of a made-for-television movie.
Rhodes, who was on parole for armed robbery at the time of the murders, agreed to testify against Jacobs and Tafero and was sentenced to life in prison. He was paroled in February of 1994. A few months later, Rhodes vanished.
And he had been a fugitive ever since.
Henry remembers hearing about the case while attending the Tallahassee Highway Patrol Academy in 1983. But the case had been a distant memory up until last week when he learned about a new addition to the FHP's Web site — a picture and biography of its most wanted fugitive.
So Henry, who jokingly calls himself a computer geek, decided to spend a few hours in front of the keyboard typing Rhodes' name and Social Security number in as many public access databases as possible.
One of the matches led him to a Walter N. Rhodes, a.k.a. Michael R. Estes, living in Okanogan County in Washington state.
But that wasn't enough to prove he had found the right one.
What sealed the deal for Henry was Rhodes' known physical condition — he was missing his left leg, which was amputated after he was shot during his arrest in 1976. Henry contacted the Washington State Division of Licensing to see if the driver license of the Rhodes in Washington state noted an artificial leg.
The answer was yes.
"God forbid should something like this happen to me," Henry said. "I'd like to think (if it did), somebody would take the time to track down the people responsible. I'm just glad to be able to help out."
Okanogan County Undersheriff Joe Somday said two deputies out of uniform traveled in unmarked cars on Tuesday to Rhodes' home where they surveyed the property. Rhodes, 53, eventually left his house and got into his car and drove away. The deputies followed.
A marked deputy car stopped Rhodes' vehicle and eventually arrested the man who had been running from police for nine years.
"Rhodes said he was the guy we were looking for," Somday said Wednesday. "He didn't try to use his false name."
After Rhodes was paroled, Somday said, he divorced his wife, Sara Rhodes. The two then traveled to New Mexico where they stole the identity of an Oregon man named Michael R. Estes. Rhodes had obtained a Social Security card and a New Mexico driver license in that identity in 1995.
Rhodes and his ex-wife later moved to Twisp, Wash., and joined a spiritual commune and, in 1999, they moved to a double-wide trailer in a small town adjacent to the Canadian border.
After searching Rhodes' home, deputies found firearms and a Florida Highway Patrol badge. Investigators do not yet know if the badge belonged to Black, but Somday said that he doubts it because Rhodes had been in jail for 18 years after the murders.
"We don't know if it's a genuine badge," Somday said. "If it is, it will be returned."
The Okanogan County Sheriff's Office charged Rhodes with felon in possession of a firearm, identity theft and perjury.
Sara Rhodes was arrested and charged with criminal assistance. Both are in the Okanogan County Jail. The Florida Parole Commission will make arrangements to extradite Walter Rhodes.
Henry said one of his specialties is investigating identity theft, which most fugitives turn to when fleeing law enforcement. It can be difficult to find someone immediately after they assume another person's identity, but after a few years, Henry said, some become relaxed and may not be as careful.
Henry, who has been in the Naples-based FHP station since November of 2001, said he found Web sites, including one on UFOs, whose guest books Rhodes had signed.
Henry says he is inspired by some advice given to him by a Lee County Sheriff's deputy years ago.
"If you want to be a good cop, you gotta be nosy," Henry said.