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- [00:07]
Vanessa Richardson
This is Crime House. During the week of March 10, 1970, one of the most notorious robbers in history, Ronnie Biggs, outmaneuvered British authorities and fled to Brazil. For over three decades, he enjoyed a life full full of parties and indulgence. Before a shocking capture in 2014. Another criminal escape made headlines when wanted murderer James Robert Jones was apprehended 37 years after breaking out of one of America's most famous prisons. Making this week's theme wanted Criminals. Welcome to Crime House the Show. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Every Monday we'll be revisiting notorious crimes from this week in history. From serial killers to mysterious disappearances or murders, every episode will explore stories that share a common theme. Each week we'll cover two stories, one further in the past and one more rooted in the present. Here at Crime House, we know none of this would be possible without you, our community. Please support us by rating, reviewing and following Crime House the Show. Wherever you get your podcasts and for ad free and early access to Crime the Show plus exciting bonus content, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Today's theme is Fugitives. We'll start in 1970 when 40 year old Ronnie Biggs fled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Upon his arrival, he assumed a new identity and disappeared into the throngs of expats, locals and partying tourists. After that, we'll jump to 2014 when new technology helped authorities locate few 59 year old James Robert Jones, a convicted killer who'd broken out of prison almost 40 years earlier. Both Ronnie and James were incarcerated for their crimes, escaped and proceeded to outrun the police for years. Even though they were eventually brought to justice, they still spent decades on the lam, mystifying authorities at every turn. We'll tell you how they did it.
- [02:58]
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- [03:00]
Vanessa Richardson
Easy.
- [03:00]
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- [03:28]
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- [04:01]
Vanessa Richardson
11, 1970, a man named Michael Haynes landed in Rio de Janeiro. By all appearances, he was a regular 40 year old guy ready to have a good time on Brazil's famous beaches. In reality, he was anything but normal. His real name was Ronnie Biggs and he was one of the most notorious train robbers in history. It wasn't the first time Ronnie had reinvented himself. During the first few decades of his life, he'd gone from Peter petty thief to straight laced family man to elusive robber. But before all that, Ronnie was just a kid trying to survive. He was born in south London in 1929 to a poor family. Ronnie was the youngest of four and grew up during the Great Depression. Just like in the us the stock market crash had a huge impact on the UK and Ronnie's family struggled to get by. They also had to contend with the physical and economic damage of World War II. Given the hard times, food was scarce and Ronnie and his family often went hungry. So he resorted to stealing from an early age to feed himself. His life of petty crime continued until 1947, when he was 18 years old. That's when Ronnie felt it was time to turn his life around. That year he enlisted in Britain's Royal Air Force. But old habits die hard. In 1949, just two years into his military career, Ronnie was kicked out for breaking into a local pharmacy. His dismissal from the RAF didn't change Ronnie's behavior. If anything, it seemed to reinforce it. Just a month after he left the Air Force, he stole a car and was thrown in jail. There he became friends with a fellow inmate named Bruce Reynolds. Bruce had a legitimate career as an antiques dealer, but it may have been a cover for his real moneymaker stealing. He was a known thief and had links to London's criminal underbelly. That didn't bother Ronnie, and he and Bruce quickly hit it off. They both loved literature and jazz and Bruce appreciated Ronnie's humor and positivity. They even stayed friends. After Ronnie was released a few years later, it seemed like Ronnie was finally ready to straighten himself out. In 1956, the 27 year old fell in love with a young woman named Charmian. Ronnie appeared to trust her implicitly. He told Charmian all about his past and and swore he was leaving his criminal life behind. But he wasn't able to live up to his promise. Not only did he break his word, he made Charmian an accomplice. Within the year, he convinced her to take money from her work and he went back to stealing himself. Charmion never got in trouble, but Rani quickly got caught and ended up spending the next two and a half years in prison. Prison? He was around 31 when he got out. Charmian had stayed with Ronnie while he was incarcerated, and this time he made a more genuine attempt to put his criminal past to bed. She seemed to believe him sometime that year. In 1960, the two of them got married. And soon Ronnie had someone else depending on him too. Also in 1960, he and Charmian had their first son, Nicholas. The family moved to Red Hill, a town about an hour out of London. Ronnie got into carpentry and even started a business. For three years, Ronnie and Charmian put down roots and grew their family, welcoming another son in 1963. That same year, Ronnie, Ronnie and Charmian were asked if they wanted to buy the home they'd been renting. According to Charmian, they didn't have the money and getting a loan wouldn't be easy. So Ronnie contacted someone he knew had a lot of spare cash. His old prison buddy, Bruce Reynolds. The two had remained friends all these years, and Bruce, who was out of prison, agreed to help. But not in the way Ronnie expected. Instead of a loan, Bruce offered him a chance to earn the cash himself. He just had to help Bruce with a job. But Bruce wasn't hiring Ronnie as a carpenter. He needed Ronnie's skills as a thief. Even though Bruce had plenty of money, he wanted more. And in order to get it, he was planning something straight out of a Western. Bruce wanted to rob a train he was targeting a 12 car postal train that ran between Glasgow and London. In addition to mail, the train's front cars also contained money and valuables that were being transported between banks. The general plan was to hotwire the rail's track signals so the train would stop where they wanted it to. After that, the men would go go on board and disconnect the engine and front cars from the rest of the train. Then they'd move the lighter locomotive along the tracks to a nearby bridge. There'd be a truck waiting on the road below the bridge ready to transport the loot. But in order to move the train, they needed someone who could drive it. And Ronnie's job was to find him if he could find find A driver who helped them pull off the job. Bruce would pay Ronnie £40,000 for his trouble. That's roughly over a million US dollars today. That kind of cash wouldn't just buy Ronnie a family home. It would set them up for life. To Ronnie, the answer was a no brainer. He was in. Bruce's team was made up of 15 of the most legendary thieves and Rob. Compared to them, Ronnie was an amateur. But they needed him for his connection to the driver. So the others reluctantly accepted him into the fold. Ronnie quickly proved his worth. He recruited the driver and the heist was planned for August 8th. It must have felt like a good omen for Ronnie. August 8, 1963 was his 34th birthday. The day before, they all gathered at Leather Slade Farm, a house Bruce had rented to serve as their headquarters. It was a little less than 30 miles from where they planned to stop the train. There, the team went over the plan, played some games and drank beer. Then around 10pm, they disguised themselves in army uniforms and headed towards the tracks. Once they arrived, the crew spread out to perform their various tasks. The electricians went to change the signals, while others cut the track's emergency call box and overhead lines. After a few hours, their trap was set. And just in time. Around 3am, the train barreled towards them. The sound of its screaming brakes filled the air as the conductor noticed the altered signals and came to a stop as soon as it did. The men, including Ronnie, muscled aboard. They were unarmed, but quickly overpowered the train's two drivers. One was handcuffed outside the train while the other, a man named Jack Mills, was brutally beaten in the train cab. Once the gang was aboard, Ronnie's friend took his post at the controls, but he couldn't move the train. It used a system he didn't know how to operate. That could have been the end of it, but the group pivoted. They forced the injured driver, Jack Mills, to disconnect the cars and move the train a half mile away to the bridge. After that, it took them under an hour to empty most of the cars into their waiting truck. Then they sped off to their farmhouse and took stock of the loot. They'd stolen way more than they had predicted. After three hours of counting, they realized they'd taken an astounding 2.6 million pounds, which would be over 50 million US dollars in today's money. Ronnie's cut alone was 147 lbs. Thousand pounds worth almost 2 million dollars by that same metric. That kind of stolen cash came with an incredible amount of attention. Word about the heist spread quickly from police broadcasts to newspaper headlines. The gang realized that by hunkering down at the farmhouse, they were sitting ducks. So once again, they pivoted. The robbers left the house earlier than planned and and scattered into the wind. Before they went, they paid someone to scrub the farmhouse from top to bottom and make sure no evidence was left behind. Unfortunately, this cleaner was just as much of a scoundrel as they were. Instead of cleaning the farmhouse, he took the money they paid him and fled. Which meant Leather Slade Farm remained full of forensic evidence that could lead authorities right to the thieves. And Ronnie had left his fingerprints all over the place.
- [14:25]
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- [15:25]
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- [15:57]
Vanessa Richardson
On August 8, 1963, 34 year old Ronnie Biggs and a team of notorious criminals pulled off the big biggest train heist in English history. They were able to get away with £2.6 million, with Ronnie getting 147,000 of them. He and his accomplices were suddenly rich beyond their wildest dreams. But Leather Slade Farm, which they'd used as their hideout following the robbery, hadn't been cleaned out. Shortly after the heist, a Local called the police to report a suspicious vehicle outside the farm. This may have been one of the army style trucks the robbers used during the heist. When officers went to check it out, they found a gold mine of evidence. The place was littered with beer bottles and board games the robbers had played before the train robbery. Authorities were able to lift the gang's fingerprints from some of the items, including Ronnie Biggs. A week later, the arrests began. The first member to be hauled in was one of the men who altered the signals on the tracks. A week later, another member of the gang was arrested. The authorities went down the list one by one. Ronnie must have seen the writing on the wall because he paid a trusted source to hold on to his cut of the heist money in case Ronnie got caught. It wasn't a moment too soon. By the end of the month, 13 of the 15 robbers were in custody, including Ronnie. While they awaited trial, the country was abuzz. It had been a historic heist, one that became known as the Great Train Robbery. By the time court proceedings began in January 1964, there was a lot of anticipation. It only took about four months to try the 13 captured robbers. In April 1964, Ronnie was found guilty of robbery and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Most of the others got a similar sentence. Ronnie was incarcerated at a prison in London called Wandsworth. Some might view imprisonment as the end of the road, but for Ronnie it was just the beginning. Because from the moment he stepped foot in Wandsworth, he was planning his escape. On July 8, 1965, two years after the heist, 35 year old Ronnie was exercising in the prison yard. It was around three in the afternoon when a man wearing a stocking on his head appeared on top of the yard's 20 foot wall. The guards noticed him immediately and sounded the alarm. But the man acted fast. He dangled a rope ladder into the yard. Four prisoners, including Ronnie, sprinted for it and scaled the wall in seconds. The guards tried to follow, but the other prisoners in the yard held them off until Ronnie and the others got away. Authorities assumed the prison break was an inside job, but but it also came with some help from the outside. It turned out that Ronnie's wife Charmian had come up with the cash to fund the escape. Ronnie hid around the UK for a few months before making it to Belgium. It seemed like he'd gotten access to his stash by this point because from Belgium he went to Paris where he spent thousands of pounds on plastic surgery to change his appearance. At some point he also acquired the documents to forge a new identity, which he used to get to Australia. He stayed at a boarding house there Until June of 1966, about a year after he'd escaped. By then, Charmian and their sons had arrived in Australia. The family was reunited at last. It stayed that way for over three years. During that time, the couple eventually settled in Melbourne and had another son. But in 1970, Charmion and Ronnie got nervous. They heard through the grapevine that officers from Scotland Yard had caught up with Ronnie and were in the country. It worried the Biggs family enough for Ronnie to buy a ticket to Rio de Janeiro on Monday, March 11. But before he actually took off, Charmian was supposed to meet him at the airport. She got in her car and left their home in Melbourne. But she'd only gone a few yards when a horde of police descended on her. They wrenched her out of the vehicle and searched their house. Little did they know, if they just followed Charmian instead of stopping her, she'd have led them straight to Ronnie. Instead, Charmian remained in Australia while Ronnie, who had changed his name to Michael Haines, flew off into the sunset. Brazil was a smart choice for a new life. At the time, it didn't have an extradition treaty with the uk. It was also a popular destination for fugitives who were able to take advantage of the country's chaotic political situation to fly under the ra. And Ronnie was able to do exactly that. Using his new alias, he found work as a carpenter and started a whole new life. Although he stayed in touch with Charmian and the boys, Rani also had multiple girlfriends in Brazil. But the good times were disrupted by tragedy. In 1971, a year after he arrived in Brazil, Ronnie got some heart wrenching news. His oldest son Nicky had died in a car accident. He was only 10 years old. Ronnie wanted to go back and mourn with his family, but if he left Brazil, he'd be arrested. So he had to stay in hiding. Even though he stayed put, he only avoided detection for three more years. In 1974, over a decade after the heist, a reporter from the UK's Daily Express newspaper approached 45 year old Ronnie. They had figured out Ronnie's real identity and were willing to pay him thousands of pounds for an interview. Ronnie, who always put money first, couldn't resist. He didn't know the journalist had already notified British authorities that they'd found the Great Train Robbery's most wanted man. Scotland Yard sent Jack Slipper, one of the lead detectives who'd investigated the heist, to Rio. Thanks to the tip, he quickly found Ronnie and arrested him. But it wouldn't be that easy. Since the two countries didn't have an extradition treaty, they'd have to negotiate a deal to bring Ronnie back to the uk. However, Ronnie was expecting a child with one of his girlfriends and Brazilian law prevented the fathers of Brazilian children to be extradited. So the UK wasn't allowed to take Ronnie back. British authorities had to stomach the fact that they knew exactly where Ronnie was and couldn't touch him. These events also signaled the end of another chapter in Ronnie's life. After sticking by him through thick and thin, Charmion finally had enough. Shortly after his botched arrest, she and Ronnie got a divorce. Ronnie had officially closed the books on his old life and embraced his new one. The only problem was the law allowing him to remain in Brazil also prevented him from working anymore. And he was almost out of his stash from the robbery. Stealing could ruin his stay in Brazil, so Ronnie had to find another way to make money. So he decided to capitalize on his name. Ronnie was a celebrity back in England, not only for participating in the Great Train Robbery, but also for his daring prison break. People saw him as an affable renegade who stuck it to the man. Ronnie decided to use this fame to earn some extra cash. He started going to a pub in Rio where he had customers pay a fee to listen to his stories. He also made mugs with his face on it and charged tourists to have lunch or take pictures with him. At various points. He was a spokesperson for products on TV and even sang on a record with the sex pistols in 1978. Not all of the attention was good though. In March of 1981, around the 18 year anniversary of the heist, a group of kidnappers tried to abduct 51 year old Ronnie and sell him to British authorities. But once again, Ronnie evaded capture. He spent the next decade living his life of ease in Rio as he continued to earn a living off his past crimes. But after 28 years in Brazil and a lifetime of luck, Ronnie's body turned against him. In 1998, the 69 year old had a stroke. Two more followed and Ronnie considered going home for better medical treatment. Finally, he reached out to English authorities for a passport. He apparently got one, because in 2001, the sun newspaper stepped in to arrange for his transport back to the uk. Maybe hoping for an exclusive interview, they flew him home on a private jet full of amenities. Ronnie was 72 by this point and hoped that since he was old and sick, the authorities would go easy on him. He was disappointed the day he touched down on British soil. He was taken into custody and sent to a high security prison instead. He spent the next few years there until 2007, when he was transferred to a different facility for seniors. By 2009, 80 year old Ronnie was in extremely poor health. That year he was led out on what's called compassionate grounds. For the first time in almost 50 years, he was legitimately free. Ronnie spent his remaining time in his home country of England. He still did interviews and stayed as active as he could. His last public appearance was in March 2013 when he went to a funeral for his friend and the heist's mastermind, Bruce Reynolds. A few months later, in December 2013, Ronnie passed away at 84 years old. In a strange coincidence, he died on the same day a BBC documentary about the robbery aired. His publicist commented about this synergy, saying, as always, his timing was perfect to the end. Up next, we explore another famous fugitive, James Robert Jones, who murdered a fellow army private and escaped from one of America's most famous prisons. After he got out, James promptly vanished into thin air. And it took almost 440 years to find him.
- [28:33]
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- [28:55]
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- [29:04]
Vanessa Richardson
For my life to change. ABC Sundays, American Idol is all new. Give it your all. Good luck. Come out with a golden ticket. Let's hear it. This is a man's world. I've never seen anything like it. And a new chapter begins. You're going to Hollywood. Carrie Underwood joins Lionel Richie, Luke Bryant and Ryan Seacrest on American Idol New Sundays, 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. Ronnie Biggs fascinated people for decades with his colorful life of crime and his legendary ability to evade authorities. And this next fugitive proved to be equally elusive. But his crimes were far deadlier than anything Ronnie had ever done. On March 13, 2014, 59 year old James Robert Jones showed up to his job at an air conditioning company in Pompano Beach, Florida. Before he could enter the building, a group of U.S. marshals from a Florida fugitive task force surrounded him and placed him under arrest. James didn't fight back or try to flee. He knew exactly why they were there and he'd been avoiding this exact scenario for the last 37 years. It all started back in 1974, when James was around 20 years old. @ the time, he was an army private stationed at a New Jersey military base called for Fort Dix. Not a lot is known about James life before the military other than that he was from Ontario, California. Considering he was only 20, he wasn't very far into his career at Fort Dix. But it seemed like he'd been there long enough to make a few friends. In late April 1974, he and two other privates, Terry Bailey and Timothy Hofbauer, were out having drinks. Afterward, they bought some weed and found a spot in the woods to smoke it. At some point between 2 and 3am 18 year old Lonnie Eaton and 22 year old Thomas White walked by. James and his crew didn't know them, but Lonnie and Thomas were also privates at Fort Dix. They'd gone out for some fun as well and were on their way back to base. According to James friend Terry Bailey, Lonnie and Thomas approached and claimed they were undercover military police. It was a trick to get James, Terry and Timothy to hand over their weed. However, James and his friends didn't buy their story and things got tense. But according to Thomas White, that's not what happened. In Thomas's version of the story, he and Lonnie were walking back from a bar when one of James friends tried to buy some marijuana from them. After that, James, Terry and Timothy surrounded them. Either way, both versions of this story ended with a massive fight erupting. James had a knife and started stabbing Thomas first. But when Lonnie tried to intervene James, James turned on him. All told, it only took about a minute for James to stab both Lonnie and Thomas multiple times. Afterwards, he, Terry and Timothy ran for it, leaving Thomas and Lonnie lying on the ground. Shortly after the assault, a woman was driving by the base and saw a body in the road. Thomas White. She called the police who rushed to the scene and found found that Thomas, despite having been stabbed repeatedly, was still alive. He was rushed to the hospital and survived. Lonnie wasn't so lucky. Police found him about 20 yards away among some trees. He had died from his wounds. It didn't take long for news about the attack to get out. By the next morning, multiple outlets were reporting that Lonnie Eaton had been murdered and Thomas White had barely survived. Once he was well enough, Thomas gave a description of the three attackers. Both the military police and the FBI got to work looking for suspects that matched his description. Three white males, all wearing blue jeans. One had on a blue jacket, one wore a brown one, and the last guy was in a brown and red sweater. No one, including Thomas, seemed to know the trio was also stationed at the base. James Robert Jones didn't seem too concerned about the growing manhunt. Apparently he'd been bragging about the murder to other cadets around the base. He allegedly even showed someone how he'd driven the knife into Lonnie. By the following month, authorities had figured out who was responsible. It's not clear what evidence sealed the deal, but they were confident enough in their suspects that on May 19, 1974, James and his friends were arrested. James didn't bother denying what he'd done. He took full responsibility for stabbing Thomas and Lonnie. He made it clear that his two comrades didn't have weapons on them, so he was the only one who should be punished. His statement got one friend off the hook completely and the other was only sentenced to a year in prison for assault. James, on the other hand, was found guilty of first degree murder and aggravated assault and sentenced to 23 years. After his conviction, James was transferred to a maximum security prison for military prisoners in Kansas called Fort Leavenworth. The building was from the early 1900s with soaring walls and towers that earned it the nickname the Castle. But in this case, even a fortress wasn't enough to keep James Robert Jones INS. In 1974, 20 year old James Robert Jones was incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth for brutally stabbing a fellow army private to death. Almost nothing is known about James time behind bars, but after three years, he was allowed to work in the prison's Mess Hall. On March 21, 1977, 23 year old James was scheduled for a shift in the cafeteria. He reported for duty and was seen by at least one witness as late as 3:30pm but that evening, when the guards conducted their routine check of the inmates, they realized James was missing. It soon became clear James hadn't just skipped the headcount, he'd disappeared altogether. No one remembered seeing him leave and it wasn't clear how he'd escaped. Authorities were stumped. It was so inexplicable, a lieutenant on the case told the Leavenworth Times the following day, that James might still be inside the prison somewhere. Only he didn't turn up in any of their searches. The lieutenant admitted it was possible for an inmate to escape, but he would have to either get over the prison walls or leave through one of the two gates, which seemed unlikely since no one had seen James leave. There was another theory, that he'd made it to an unguarded storage room and escaped in a delivery or laundry truck. That scenario seemed more likely, although no one came forward with information to corroborate it. Ultimately, it didn't matter how James escaped. All that mattered was finding him. But there was no sign of him anywhere. Days passed, then weeks and months. Eventually, there wasn't much the authorities could do except put James on the Army's most wanted list and hope he slipped up soon. It wasn't the last time Fort Leavenworth would experience this kind of headache. The crumbling building seemed to have an issue with security. Over the next two decades, at least 11 prisoners broke out of the castle, including a pair that snuck out by riding in a garbage truck. They were all eventually found and taken back in, except for James. He'd vanished into thin air like some kind of magic act. In reality, James had made his way to Florida. It's not clear when or how he got to the Sunshine state, but by 1981, 27 year old James was living under the alias of Bruce Keith. He kept quiet, doing his best not to attract attention. He maintained a steady job, and in 1983, he married a woman named Susan. The following year, the two settled down in a South Florida suburb called Deerfield Beach. James blended in perfectly. Not only did Susan have no idea who he really was, but he endeared himself to his neighbors. His community considered him friendly and helpful. Most of them seemed to go to him when they needed help with their air conditioners. James was able to maintain this peaceful existence for an astounding 37 years, all while his case languished in the military police's archives. Then, in January 2014, an investigator with the US army came across James F file. He thought it deserved a new look. There were forensic tools available that they didn't have in the 1970s, like advanced DNA testing and facial recognition software. The army investigator enlisted the aid of the U.S. marshal's office, and they reached out to the handful of people who knew James at the time of the murder. At least one of them gave the investigators their biggest lead yet. They should check Florida. At some point in February or March of 2014, they ran James 1974 mugshot through Florida's database. They used facial recognition software to compare it to all driver's licenses issued after 1977, the year that James escaped. Sure enough, the tech matched the mugshot with someone in the system. Bruce Keith. One look at the photo probably told them they'd found their guy. From there, it didn't take long for the authorities to move in. On March 13, 2014, a few U.S. marshals hovered outside of James one story home. They trailed him as he left for work and arrived at his air conditioning job in nearby Pompano Beach. Before he could get inside, a trio of officers approached and called him by a name he hadn't heard in 37 years. James Robert Jones. James didn't resist as they placed him in handcuffs and brought him to the local police station. There, he admitted his real identity. At some point, he said, quote, I knew this would catch up with me one day. His identity was officially confirmed after his fingerprints were run through the system. After 37 long years, his time on the run was at an end. Now James was was finally going back to the prison he'd inexplicably broken out of. Soon after he was apprehended, 59 year old James returned to Fort Leavenworth. He has yet to explain how he managed to break out the first time, but it's unlikely he'll manage to do it again. During his absence, a lot had changed at the castle. It was rebuilt in 2002 and got a computerized system that made the place a lot more secure. Or, according to a military spokesperson, quote, inescapable. Though if James Robert Jones has his way, that might be put to the test. When we look back on the cases from today, it's clear there's something exciting about a fugitive. Ronnie Biggs and James Robert Jones are no exception. Against all odds, they were able to escape prison and avoid capture for years. It makes them feel like anti establishment folk heroes. But the truth is, these men were criminals whose actions had dire consequences. Especially in the case of James Robert Jones, who took one man's life and gravely wounded another. Avoiding culpability isn't brave. And for both of these men, all they did was stave off the inevitable. They might have bought themselves time, but they learned in the end, you can't run forever. Crime House the show is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing and following Crime House the Show. Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly matters. And for ad free and early access to Crime House the Show show plus exciting bonus content subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. We'll be back next Monday. The show is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Crime House the Show team Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertzovsky, Sarah Carroll, Kate Murdoch, Claire Cronin and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.
- [44:56]
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