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Man On the Lam From ‘Shawshank’ For 56 Years Arrested In Melbourne

By  //  May 5, 2015

bcso GAMEOVER Task Force makes arrest

Frank Freshwater, now 79-years old and using the alias William H. Cox, was taken into custody in the 1200 block of Jones Road in Melbourne on a fugitive from justice warrant. (BCSO image)
Frank Freshwater, now 79-years old and using the alias William H. Cox, was taken into custody in the 1200 block of Jones Road in Melbourne on a fugitive from justice warrant. (BCSO image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – An Ohio man who has been a fugitive from justice for more than 56 years, and has been living in Brevard for about 20 years, was arrested by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s GAMEOVER Task Force after receiving a tip from authorities in Ohio.

Frank Freshwater, now 79-years old and using the alias William H. Cox, was taken into custody in the 1200 block of Jones Road in Melbourne on a Fugitive From Justice warrant.

Freshwater served time at the Ohio State Reformatory, made famous by the film “The Shawshank Redemption,” and then escaped from the Sandusky Ohio Honor Farm in 1959 after serving seven months of a 20-year sentence for violating the terms of his probation in connection to a manslaughter conviction.

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Freshwater hit the law enforcement radar screen after 56 years when the newly created Marshal’s Task Force in Ohio reopened the investigation into his whereabouts and found evidence that he was possibly in Melbourne.

Freshwater was arrested on a Fugitive From Justice warrant charging him with escape and is being held at the Brevard County Jail without bond where he will await extradition back to the State of Ohio.

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