South Carolina Residents Find Elderly Neighbor Dead—Then Learn He’s One of FBI’s 15 Most Wanted Fugitives
APPREHENDED
Residents of a small South Carolina town were left shocked this month after discovering their elderly neighbor had apparently died in his home—but things got a lot weirder when they learned he was actually one of the FBI’s 15 Most Wanted Fugitives. The U.S. Marshals Service announced the bizarre discovery in a statement on Friday, revealing that the 70-year-old man residents of Seneca knew as their neighbor James Fitzgerald was actually Frederick McLean, an “armed and dangerous” fugitive who had been on the run for 16 years.
Authorities described McLean as a “high risk” sexual predator who targeted young girls. He was wanted by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department for multiple counts of sexual assault on a child, with one alleged victim saying he’d preyed on her for nearly a decade—starting from when she was 5. “We hope McLean’s death brings some sense of closure for the victims and their families, especially knowing he can never hurt another child,” U.S. Marshal Steve Stafford of the Southern District of California said in a statement. McLean had apparently lived in the same home where his body was found for 15 years, flying completely under police radar with his new identity as James Fitzgerald.