Michael Ray Morrow, Long Beach Robber Who Escaped from Chino in 1977, Finally Captured

A Long Beach armed robber who escaped from the state prison in Chino back in 1977 is finally back behind bars following his arrest in Arkansas on Monday.

Michael Ray Morrow, 70, is now awaiting extradition back to California, according to the FBI.

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The FBI states a new cold-case run of Morrow's fingerprints found they matched those of a Carl Frank Wilson who was arrested by Arkansas' Saline County Sheriff's Department in 1984. The subsequent investigation determined Morrow had been living as Wilson in Jessieville, Arkansas. As he awaits his extradition hearing, his new address is the Garland County Detention Center. Deputies from that county and FBI agents in Little Rock participated in Monday's arrest.

Besides the aforementioned agencies, others who participated in the probe that led to Morrow's capture included the FBI/Los Angeles Police Department Fugitive Task Force; Operation Manhunt, a cold case initiative involving the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Office of Correctional Safety-Special Services Unit; and the FBI's Sacramento field office.

The task force had obtained a federal warrant charging Morrow with unlawful flight to avoid confinement on June 10.

Morrow was sent to the California Institution for Men in Chino after being sentenced to five years in prison for the Long Beach armed robbery. He escaped in August 1977.

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