Frank Freshwaters

AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man who escaped from a Sandusky work camp more than a half century ago was arrested Monday at his home in Florida.

Frank Freshwaters, 79, was taken into custody in Melbourne, Florida where he lived for years under the name William Harold Cox.

He admitted to investigators his real name and that he escaped from an Ohio prison, according to U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott.

"He gave everything up," Elliott said. "He didn't fight anything."

Elliott said that Freshwaters was one of the longest-missing fugitives in the state of Ohio.Freshwaters is currently being held at the Brevard County Sheriff's Office awaiting an extradition hearing.

Elliott said Freshwaters was living alone in Florida and that he had driver's licenses and other identification materials in the name of William Cox.

He escaped from the Sandusky Honor Farm Sept. 30, 1959. Ohio Adult Parole Authority Regional Director Todd Ishee said law enforcement believed the case was impossible to solve.

Freshwaters, then of Akron, on July 3, 1957 hit an Akron husband and father while driving more than 50 miles per hour in a 35-zone on South Arlington Road.

He was sentenced April 25, 1958 to five years of probation after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter.

Freshwaters violated probation and a judge sentenced him to up to 20 years in prison. He began serving his sentence at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, the prison where the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" was filmed.

He was eventually moved to the less restrictive Sandusky Honor Farm after earning the trust of prison officials. He escaped after about seven months at the facility and fled Ohio.

He was arrested in October 1975 in Charleston, West Virginia. State officials refused to extradite him to Ohio. He was released from prison and went into hiding.

Freshwater worked as a truck driver and was living off social security benefits, according to Bevard County, Florida Sheriff Maj. Tod Goodyear.

He ended up moving into a trailer at the end of a dead-end and rarely traveled road on the outskirts of Melbourne, Goodyear said. He said authorities believe Freshwaters moved to Melbourne about 20 years ago.

Goodyear said the trailer sat in an area near a marsh and very few people lived near him.

"It was the perfect place to hide," Goodyear said. "There's nothing near him. He would have very little contact with neighbors and there are no roads by him."

Elliott said his Cold Case Unit, formed three months ago, renewed its investigation into Freshwaters' whereabouts. They believed they found him under his alias and alerted U.S. Marshals in Florida, who joined the investigation.

Authorities went to his trailer, which Freshwaters rented from the property owner, on Monday and showed him a jail photo of himself from 56 years ago. The officers asked if he knew the person in the photo.

"I haven't seen him in a long time," Freshwaters said, according to Goodyear, before confessing to his real identity.