Authorities recapture fugitive who used dead child's identity after escaping prison in 1994

An Oregon man, using a dead child’s identity to evade authorities, was arrested earlier this week after more than 20 years on the run. 

A U.S. Marshals Service regional task force detained 70-year-old Steven Craig Johnson at an apartment complex in Macon, Georgia, over 2,500 miles east of Salem, Oregon, where he had been serving out a state prison sentence for multiple sex crimes. 

Johnson had been in the area since 2011, living and working under the alias of William Cox, which was the identity of a Texas child that died in January 1962, according to a news release. 

He was able to obtain a copy of the dead child’s birth certificate and eventually a social security number.

Marshals Service officials have spent nearly a decade looking for Johnson, attributing the development of “new investigative technology” in the last year as the reason why they were able to locate and arrest him.

Oregon fugitive awaits extradition, originally fled from work crew

Johnson is set to return to the place he fled from in November 1994.  

He ditched a work crew at Mill Creek Correctional Facility, where he was serving time for sexual abuse and sodomy, according to a news release from the Oregon Department of Corrections. 

Johnson was described as a “pedophile,” who “presents a high probability of victimizing pre-teen boys," the Oregon Department of Corrections said in a 2019 notice. Johnson was “wanted” on a 30-year-old state arrest warrant, which was issued after his escape from the now-closed minimum security facility. 

He was arrested and booked into Bibb County Jail in Macon, where he is awaiting extradition back to Oregon. Johnson had served a little over five years when he made his escape and has about 11 years remaining on his sentence, according to reporting by the Salem Statesman Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. 

All escaped inmates are subject to ODOC reviews to “determine the threat based on the level of felony charges and time remaining on their sentences.” the Statesman Journal reported. Those with “highest degrees of crime” are considered "most wanted.”

The ODOC has apprehended 38 fugitives since 2012 and has six escapees, including Johnson, on its "most wanted" list, the Statesman Journal reported.

Contributing: Isabel Funk; Salem Statesman Journal