15-year old boy convicted of murder who escaped 50 years ago is caught

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania - An 18-year old youth who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison fifty years ago has been captured - at the age of 68

Leonard Rayne Moses, who was born in Shelby, North Carolina, was captured by the FBI, Pittsburgh Division and the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office November 2020.

Moses was arrested without incident in Grand Blanc, Michigan. He is in custody on a federal unauthorized flight to avoid confinement warrant, issued out of the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1971. Following an extradition hearing and Michigan state charges, he will be returned to Pennsylvania.

On  two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., during the "Pittsburgh Riots," Moses, then aged fifteen, and some friends threw Molotov cocktails at a house located in Homewood, a community in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. A woman, 72-year old Mary Amplo, who was inside was badly burnt, and subsequently contracted pneumonia. She died three months after being hospitalizes

Despite being just 15, Moses, 5'8" was charged with first degree murder. He was convicted and sent to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In 1971, at the age of eighteen he was given permission to attend his grandmother's funeral. It was during the funeral that he escaped. A reward of $10,000 was offered for information that would lead to his capture.

Following his escape, Moses assumed the identity of Paul Dickson. At least since 1999, he was employed as a traveling pharmacist in Michigan. After his arrest earlier this year on Michigan state charges, Moses' fingerprints were entered into a nationwide database last month. Using the FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, Moses' fingerprints from the state arrest in Michigan matched with the prints taken after his arrest in 1968.

"I hope this arrest brings some closure to the family members of Mary Amplo, who was killed back in 1968," FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Michael Christman said Tuesday. "Mr. Moses will now have to face justice for her murder. Through coordination with the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office and our partners in Michigan, we were able to identify Mr. Moses using the FBI's Next Generation Identification system. It's these new advances in technology that the FBI must continue to identify and use to make sure those who commit crimes are brought to justice."

LEONARD RAYNE MOSES

"The arrest of Leonard Moses brings a measure of closure to the family of the victim, Mary Amplo," said Allegheny County Sheriff William Mullen. "The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office in conjunction with the FBI has steadily worked this case throughout the decades. We are thankful for the combined efforts of the involved law enforcement agencies who were involved in bringing Moses to face justice. It proves the axiom that you cannot outrun your past."s

Source-"https://www.raleighnews.net/news/267010017/15-year-old-boy-convicted-of-murder-who-escaped-50-years-ago-is-caught"