Nearly three decades after he ran away from Virginia, Richard Boucher will be escorted back. Only this time, his wife won't have a getaway car waiting - she was arrested along with her husband in the northern Georgia trailer park Wednesday where they had been living for years.
Boucher and another inmate escaped a Chesapeake prison in 1982 after striking a prison guard in the head with a clothes iron. Two years later, the other inmate was arrested, but Boucher seemed to disappear until authorities in Whitfield County, Ga., got a tip about a man wanted in Virginia.
During a court appearance Thursday, Boucher, 56, signed a waiver to return to the state he has long avoided, said Capt. Rick Swiney of the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office.
Swiney said the Virginia Department of Corrections will retrieve Boucher, probably in the next few days, to face charges. A spokesman for the Virginia agency did not respond to e-mailed questions.
Boucher went by the name Eric Coleman, and that's who he said he was when authorities approached him outside his trailer in the woods of the Appalachian Mountains.
They'd set up surveillance that morning, Swiney said.
"We were very careful.... He's been gone 27 years, and if we go there and miss him, he's going to be long gone again."
Boucher initially denied that he was anyone other than Eric Coleman.
"We said, 'We know who you are,' " Swiney recounted Thursday. Boucher quickly confessed his true identity.
"He's kind of in shock there to start with," he said. "There's a little bit of relief, too, that it's over with. He said for 27 years, if an acorn fell on top of his trailer in the middle of the night, he'd jump up and look out the windows."
Boucher was serving a 10-year sentence at Tidewater Correctional Unit No. 22 in October 1982 for beating and robbing a Coast Guard seaman and four sailors. The state prison - once set amid 14 acres on Greenbrier Parkway - closed years ago, and the city bought the property in 2006.
Boucher told investigators his wife picked him up after the escape. The couple abandoned their car in North Carolina and walked to Murray County, Ga., where they remained and raised a daughter, now 25, The Associated Press reported.
"She was raised up under the name they gave her," Swiney said, and she knew her parents only as Eric and Debbie Coleman.
Boucher's life on the run was hard, Swiney said.
"He said he always had to take the tough jobs nobody wanted, usually the jobs that paid cash and that you didn't have to submit ID for or anything."
That's how Boucher avoided escape until Wednesday - and by staying out of trouble, Swiney said. Police officers had gone to the door of their old trailer at least once, but they were looking for someone else.
"He's not been charged with any crime since he's escaped."
Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5208, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com
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DUH
Let me get this straight. He hid for 27 years in a trailer park. Uh, I'm no Columbo, but does anybody else think trailer parks should've been the first place to look? Where were they looking? Wall Street?
He's..
a handsome son-of-a-gun, I'll give him that!
Fear
I fear Bruce Smith being my neighbor more than I fear this fellow.
feel sorry for the old cuss
I'm sure if he had to do it all over again...he might have made the same decision. After 8-10 years locekd up he would've gotten out with nothing, not have raised, known, and loved a daughter or any semblance of a life. He would've been almost 40 starting over with nothing and probably become a drunk and ended up back in.
Jails are full of folks who have been incarcerated far longer than their crimes deserved. Make the terms shorter, but make them really harder to do for non-violent crimes and let them go before they're completely ruined due to aging. This poor fool, justice would be to quietly give him, 3 years, then let him slither back into the hills where I'm sure is the only place he fits in now.
Failure to understand
jimm53479 -
Jail is not to rehabilitate, it is a punishment. Just like the death penalty is not a deterrent, it is a punishment.
Get it right folks, If a person WISHES to rehabilitate themselves while in jail, we should be all for it, and help them as best we can. BUT, it is first and foremost a punishment.
If we TREATED it like a punishment, no cable TV, no internet, no workout facilities, no air conditioning, (I am sure in the 1800's there was no air conditioning, why should we PAY for it now?), there would be fewer people committing crimes.
It is a PUNISHMENT.
not worth it to me
Imagine the life one must lead, on the run from the law: living in the remote, keeping contacts to a minimum, never even acknowledging who you really are. The practical impacts are obvious; think also of the psychological impact. This man did it for decades. Would you? Or would you rather serve your sentence, be done with it, reconcile with your record, and rebuild? For me, in this particular case and sentence, I think the latter. With regard to whether we should return him to jail, I think he has served his punishment, but unfortunately he is not reconciled with society. What kind of message do we send to prisoners with more serious sentences if this man is set free? It may seem excessive to insist he complete his time, but the man brought this upon himself.
Save The Taxpayers Some Money
He pretty much minded his own business on the run, probably more so than if he had been on parole. Save the taxpayers some money, help reduce prison overcrowding, give him a suspended sentence for the assault with the iron and parole him. Make him report to a parole officer twice a week or how ever they do that.
Rehabilitation
I believe everyone deserves a second chance. This man has managed to stay out of trouble keep a job and support a family. I would bet since he raised a daughter that he even did some community service. People do things when they are young, and they are not always the right things but it seems to me that this man has bent over backwards to not be caught. I am sure this is who is he is now.
My family faced a similiar issue about 18 years ago and the hardest thing my ex-husband had to do was tell his 5 year old son what he did and that he might have to go to jail. But a wise judge in Virginia Beach Circuit court said to him on the day of court "Everyone deserves a second chance and since you have taken that chance and stayed out of trouble for 6 years... I am going to dismiss all charges." To this day that man has not even gotten so much as a traffic ticket. I say give him a chance...
North Georgia??
I thought that guy looked familiar, wasn't he in the movie "Deliverance"??
Unfortunately the purpose of
Unfortunately the purpose of jail is not to rehabilitate people. I used to think that was the case as well. Jail is primarily given out as punishment and determent and nothing more. It's called "paying you debt to society", as if that can actually be done. This becomes more apparent when you look at how many short jail sentences there are of a month or less, there's no rehab going on there. The exception is DUI where the judge is virtually forced to sentence people to some kind of rehab classes at the least.
I think the reason the guy has been a model of good behavior these last years is because he knew what faced him if made a nuisance of himself. Who knows what he would have been like without that hanging over his head. The only evidence we have to go on is how he behaved last time he had the freedom to do as he pleases, and that isn't looking so good.
Unfortunately the purpose of
Unfortunately the purpose of jail is not to rehabilitate people. I used to think that was the case as well. Jail is primarily given out as punishment and determent and nothing more. It's called "paying you debt to society", as if that can actually be done. This becomes more apparent when you look at how many short jail sentences there are of a month or less, there's no rehab going on there. The exception is DUI where the judge is virtually forced to sentence people to some kind of rehab classes at the least.
I think the reason the guy has been a model of good behavior these last years is because he knew what faced him if made a nuisance of himself. Who knows what he would have been like without that hanging over his head. The only evidence we have to go on is how he behaved last time he had the freedom to do as he pleases, and that isn't looking so good.
Think back to the TV series
Think back to the TV series and later a movie based loosely on a somewhat story about a fugitive doctor on the run from the law while looking for his wife’s killer. Now, fast forward to about the year 2011 when a book or movie is made that tells the story of Mr. Boucher and his life on the run. Add some “Rambo-ish” adventure and stretch the truth a little bit to spice up the story, and what might you have—a best-seller, book and movie royalties, speaking engagements, and a fan club. And money in da bank for Boucher, his wife, and daughter. Would we be so quick to call them a“fool” and “poor girl” as they were referred to earlier?
jimm
I have to disagree. The guy breached the social contract on both accounts, the crime and his punishment. Justice has not been served to the satisfaction of the law, i.e. the people.
why bother?
Because striking a prison guard in the head with a clothes iron and escaping from prison are against the law. Seems simple to me.
This is in response to Why
This is in response to Why bother:
This guy has been out in the public for over 25 years, and has caused no trouble. Why should we bring him back and lock him up feed him pay all medical bills etc. The purpose of jail is to rehabilitate people so the can live in the general public without causing a problem. Well it looks as though this man and his wife have shown that they can do that. So why bother to lock him up and spend taxpayers money to do something that doees not need to be done.
What are you thinking?!! If you do the crime you should do the time. He didn't serve the time for the crime that he committed so he should be brought back to serve his time. If it was like that do you know how many people would try to break out and go on the run to avoid doing the time!! And don't forget that breaking out of prison/jail is a crime!!!
Oh, the stories of surviving he can tell
no ID, no nothing in his name,this is true americana, and I'm glad they are all in and receiving treatment they've run from for 30 plus years. Who among us could have done what they have? AToo good a story a story here.
I bet the initial 10 year sentence doesen't seem very long now
compared to the time he is now going to do!
Why Bother
This guy has been out in the public for over 25 years, and has caused no trouble. Why should we bring him back and lock him up feed him pay all medical bills etc. The purpose of jail is to rehabilitate people so the can live in the general public without causing a problem. Well it looks as though this man and his wife have shown that they can do that. So why bother to lock him up and spend taxpayers money to do something that doees not need to be done.
Was it worth it?
If he was jailed in 1982 with a 10 year sentence, he could have been out by 1992 and could have had all of this behind him. So, now the fool is going to finish his sentence here with time added for his escape and whatever else they throw at him...
I wonder how their daughter feels now knowing that her parents are cons. Poor girl...
Retirement
Guess you could call this an early retirement? Is his wife guilty of aiding and abetting? She will probably have an early retirement too. 3 meals, exercise, a place to live, neighbors and relatives come to call.