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Published on Thursday, September 11, 2003
in the Tampa Tribune
OROVILLE, Wash. (AP) - An inmate wanted for a parole violation stemming from the slayings of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a Canadian constable is back in custody after being identified partly because of his artificial leg. Walter Norman Rhodes Jr. was arrested Tuesday near his home in this small town near the Canadian border after his car was pulled over by Okanogan County sheriff's deputies, Undersheriff Joe Somday said.
Rhodes was one of three people involved in the fatal shooting death of trooper Philip A. Black and a visiting Ontario Provincial Police constable, Donald R. Irvin, as the pair approached a car at a rest stop on Interstate 95 near Pompano Beach, Fla., in 1976.
The trio fled in the patrol car, then hijacked another car and were caught after a shootout at a police roadblock. Rhodes was shot in the left leg, which had to be amputated.
Sentenced to life in prison, he skipped parole after he was released in 1994 and was allowed to move to New Mexico.
Investigators said Wednesday that Rhodes and his wife Sara, now 62, worked odd jobs in New Mexico, moved to a New Age commune in Twisp, also in Okanogan County, in about 1997 and settled in Oroville in 1999 under the names Michael and Sara Estes.
The couple operated a legitimate Web publishing and design company, Celestial Cooperatives, and lived comfortably, sheriff's Detective Kreg Sloan said.
"To all his neighbors, he'd be the guy next door," Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Paul Henry told The Seattle Times, "but you never know who people are. You never really know."
Two weeks ago, The Times reported, Henry noticed Rhodes on a most-wanted list on the agency's Web site and, on a whim, ran it through some public records databases.
It popped up next to a post office box in Twisp that, in turn, was connected to Sara Estes. Marriage records connected her to Michael Estes, whose Washington state driver's license gave a physical description similar to that of Walter Rhodes.
Comparing the driver's license photograph with an 18-year-old prison photo, Henry was sure he had a match - especially after he obtained the application for the license.
"Washington requires the applicant to list impairments to driving," Henry said. "There it was - 'artificial left leg.'"
Based on that information, sheriff's deputies pulled over Rhodes after he drove away from his house Tuesday and arrested him for investigation of identity theft, perjury and possession of a firearm.
His wife was arrested for investigation of harboring a fugitive.
Rhodes told deputies he was wanted under his real name, Somday said. In a search of his home, deputies found a modified rifle and a Florida Highway Patrol badge. The badge did not have a number on it, and police had no explanation for it.
He will be extradited to Florida after any criminal charges in Washington state are resolved, officials said.
After that, if the state parole board determines he violated his parole, he will be returned to prison to serve the rest of his life sentence, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections.
When he was paroled, Rhodes was required to sign a document waiving extradition if he violated conditions for his release.
One of his co-defendants, Jesse Tafero, died in the electric chair on May 4, 1990, at the Florida State Prison. During the execution, an artificial sponge on Tafero's head caught fire and flames shot three feet above his head. Natural sponges were used in all previous and subsequent electrocutions.
Tafero's common-law wife, Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs, was also convicted and sentenced to die, but her conviction was overturned and she was released in 1992 after pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
Her story became the subject of a movie, "In the Blink of an Eye," which aired on ABC in 1996.
Both Tafero and Jacobs claimed from the beginning that Rhodes shot the officers and forced them to go along with him, but he testified against the couple and was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder.