Fugitive robber captured after more than 3 decades on the run
LAUDERDALE LAKES, Fla. - A 60-year-old Georgia man has been captured in South Florida after more than three decades on the run.
The U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release that Willie Lee Austin was serving a 15-year sentence for armed robbery after being convicted in Muscogee County, Georgia, when he escaped in December 1981, nearly 34 years ago.
Officials say Austin is in the Broward County Jail on an out-of-state hold Friday morning after he was captured Wednesday in suburban Fort Lauderdale.
Officials say Georgia Department of Corrections investigators assigned to the Marshals Service's fugitive task force recently looked into the case and found a possible alias identity for Austin. Then they found an address in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, and say they took Austin into custody without incident Wednesday.