On the run since 1959, Brevard man nabbed

Frank Harold Freshwaters' long run to freedom ended Monday afternoon with a knock at the door.

On one side, deputies with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office GAMEOVER task force. On the other, the gray-bearded, pony-tailed 79-year-old who authorities said lived under the alias William Cox after his escape from an Ohio prison camp in 1959 on a violation-of-probation charge.

Through the opened door, a deputy held up a black-and-white picture of a fresh-faced, 23-year-old and asked if Freshwaters recognized the man.

"'I haven't seen him in a long while,'" was the response, Major Tod Goodyear of the Brevard County sheriff's office relayed.

The deputy then asked the question that everyone knew the answer to.

"'It's you, isn't it?' And that was it. He's been living the retired life and was getting Social Security benefits, I believe under his alias. He's been living under that alias for years," Goodyear said of the man whose initial conviction was for second-degree manslaughter charges in connection with a deadly auto incident.

Freshwaters, led away in handcuffs from his mobile home off the unpaved Sarno Extension, was a fugitive. Authorities said he escaped from the Sandusky Ohio Honor Farm in 1959 and previously served time in the Ohio State Reformatory, the infamous state prison featured in the movie "Shawshank Redemption."

The land on which his trailer sits is owned by the parents of state Sen. Thad Altman. Altman said Tuesday that Freshwaters has served as a caretaker for the property for two decades. "Obviously, he seemed very trustworthy," Altman said.

"He admitted who he was and owned up to everything," U.S. Marshal Pete Elliot told FLORIDA TODAY from his his Ohio office. Three months ago, Elliot, whose federal jurisdiction is northern Ohio, formed a cold case unit and quickly turned up information on Freshwaters. "He's been in Florida for several decades. He probably tried to go as far south as he could."

Goodyear said the man told sheriff's agents he earned a living driving a truck before he retired. Tuesday, Freshwaters was expected to go before a judge at the Brevard County Jail Complex where he will be held on a fugitive-from-justice warrant. He will then be extradited to Ohio to face an escape charge.

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"That's a long time to be in hiding. Over half a century, when he went to prison, Elvis was in his heyday. There was black and white television. It's an interesting case," Goodyear said.

Shirl Cheetham, 34, of Palm Bay, said she knew the man by his alias for nearly 15 years. She's heard his jokes, listened to him play guitar and even went hunting with him. She said the man her children call 'Grandpa Will,' was there for her as the best man at her 2012 wedding.

"He is just the sweetest man ... I'm shell shocked. After all this time, how he managed to keep from getting caught. He stayed out of trouble all this time," said Cheetham. She added that she heard about the arrest but does not plan to tell her children just yet. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," she said.

Cheetham said that Freshwaters attended West Melbourne Community Church from time to time and even volunteered in a thrift store. "This is someone who loved to laugh. I honestly think they should let him go," she said.

Ohio authorities said Freshwaters, then 21 and married, killed 24-year-old Eugene Flynt on July 3, 1957 in Akron. Documents released by Elliot's office show that Freshwaters was traveling more than 50 mph in a 35 mph zone when he struck Flynt.

"Flynt was run over by Freshwaters," Elliot said. Freshwaters, then a painter, was indicted on second-degree manslaughter charges. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was given five years of probation with a suspended sentence of one to 20 years, records show. In Feb. 1959, Freshwaters was charged with violating his probation and sent to the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. Later authorities said he charmed prison officials, gaining their trust as a model inmate. He was sent to the Sandusky Honor Farm where he escaped Sept. 30,1959.

At one point, Freshwaters was captured on the Ohio fugitive warrant in West Virginia in 1975 but the governor would not extradite the inmate. He was released and went back into hiding, officials report. Elliot said his investigators tracked Freshwaters down to Melbourne and determined that he had been living in a mobile home west of Interstate 95. Authorities say Freshwaterss was single.

"It's really just good police work. No one thing led them to his doorstep. But now, he's going to be brought to justice," Elliot said. Elliot was asked about Freshwaters' time on the run and the feasibility of searching for a 79-year-old man who escaped prison when Eisenhower was president.

"That's not for us to decide. The bottom line is our job is to catch the person and bring him or her to court," Elliot said.

"We have an obligation to do that."

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com or on Twitter at @JDGallop