Lester Eubanks

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Lester Eubanks
Born (1943-10-31) October 31, 1943 (age 80)
Disappeared1973
StatusFugitive
Other namesVictor Young
Criminal chargeMurder
PenaltyDeath, commuted to life in prison

Lester Eubanks (born October 31, 1943) is an American criminal and fugitive who murdered 14-year-old Mary Ellen Deener on November 14, 1965, in Mansfield, Ohio. He was sentenced to death at the Ohio State Penitentiary, which was changed to a sentence of life in prison in 1972. He escaped from prison in 1973 and has been at large ever since. After escaping from prison, he moved to California, where he was known as Victor Young. He is on the United States Marshals Service's 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Early life[edit]

Eubanks was born on October 31, 1943.[1][2] He lived in Mansfield, Ohio. By 1965, Eubanks was a "serial sexual offender."[3] He had been arrested twice before for sex crimes.[4] In November 1965, Eubanks was out on bond for a rape charge.[5][6] Eubanks is 5'11", weighs 175 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes.[3] He has a large scar on his upper right arm.[7]

Murder of Mary Ellen Deener[edit]

On November 14, 1965, Mary Ellen Deener, a 14-year-old girl who was a resident of Mansfield, left her home to do laundry at a local laundromat in town, which was located near the home of her grandmother.[8] She left the laundromat temporarily to retrieve change from a different, nearby laundromat.[9][4] While she was walking from the one laundromat to the other, Eubanks grabbed her, pulled her behind a house and attempted to sexually assault her.[5][10][11] She resisted, and Eubanks shot her twice in the stomach.[5] Eubanks left her and went back home to clean and dress himself. He returned 20 minutes later and saw she was still breathing. He picked up a brick and struck her in the head, killing her.[5][7] Police found her body two hours later.[5]

The next day, Eubanks was arrested at his home, where he confessed to the murder.[5] He was charged with first-degree murder and perpetrating rape.[12]

Imprisonment[edit]

The case went to trial in 1966. Eubanks testified to his involvement in the crime.[5] In May 1966, a jury sentenced Eubanks to death by electrocution, and he would live on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus.[3][13][14] Eubanks' sentence was commuted to a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1972, when Ohio abolished the death penalty in response to the Supreme Court claim that the death penalty was unconstitutional.[13][10][15] Eubanks was three days from being executed when the sentence was commuted.[14]

Eubanks was given letters of recommendation by prison guards to join an "honor inmate" program that took inmates outside of the prison.[4][5] Eubanks spent his time in prison painting and received some awards for his work.[5] In the months leading up to December 1973, the number of visitations to Eubanks in prison drastically increased.[10]

Escape[edit]

Eubanks, as a part of the honor inmate program, was given a temporary furlough to go outside to do Christmas shopping on December 7, 1973.[5][13][14] He and three other inmates were brought to the Great Southern Shopping Mall in south Columbus, where he was given the opportunity to roam the mall unescorted, with the only stipulation to arrive back to the officers at the appropriate time.[10][14][16] He was dropped off at the mall at 10 a.m., and upon entering the mall, the inmates split up.[10] When the visiting time was up, the Ohio Department of Corrections' security team went to collect Eubanks, who was missing.[10][14][11] Investigators say he was picked up by a close associate, who drove him to the Detroit, Michigan area, where he lived for two weeks, and that he got on a bus to California afterwards.[5] He was almost caught when the bus was stopped on an interstate line by officers looking to see if illegal substances were being trafficked.[10]

Aftermath[edit]

Starting in 1975, Eubanks lived with a woman named Kay Banks in Los Angeles, California, under the name Victor Young.[10][15] He signed his paintings under this name.[10] At various times, he lived in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Gardena, North Hollywood, Long Beach, and South Los Angeles.[15] In the 1980s, he worked at a waterbed manufacturing factory in Gardena.[17][10] In the 1980s or early 1990s, he worked as a janitor at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California.[18]

In the early 1990s, it was discovered that the federal warrant for Eubanks had been removed from the federal warrant database, which explained how he could live for two decades without getting caught.[4]

In 1994, Eubanks was the subject of an episode of America's Most Wanted, and Los Angeles police received thousands of tips.[15] After watching the show, Kay Banks gave the police a tip that she had been living with him for years.[3][10] When police interrogated her, she confessed to living with him, and said he lived with her up until a few years prior.[10] She said Eubanks was a "bully," so she told him someone was looking into him, which caused him to leave.[10]

Eubanks lived in Alabama at some point before 2003.[10][15][7] He worked as a janitor at a center for troubled youths.[3]

In 2003, investigators talked to his father, Mose L. Eubanks, in Ohio, who refused to talk about his son.[3][10] Mose Eubanks took phone calls from Lester and likely knew about his whereabouts.[3] Lester Eubanks moved back to Ohio in 2003, 2010, and 2012 to attend funerals for family members.[5] Mose Eubanks died in 2012.[3]

In 2018, Eubanks was listed on the United States Marshals Service's 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list.[7] As of 2023, he still remains on the list.[19] The Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to his capture.[18]

In 2019, a man came forward with a claim that his late mother had been raped by Eubanks, that he is Eubanks' biological son by rape, and that he was willing to provide his DNA to help with the search.[10][7] However, FBI policies prohibit using a relative's DNA in their DNA database.[10]

His disappearance was featured on the Netflix series Unsolved Mysteries.[20] After Eubanks was featured on the series, the U.S. Marshals said they believed he was still living in the Los Angeles area, having received photographs of him with friends there.[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rateshtari, Roya (September 10, 2020). "Lester Eubanks". U.S. Marshals Service.
  2. ^ Miller, Adam (October 20, 2020). "U.S Marshals off reward for killer on the run after Unsolved Mysteries episode". Metro. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Whitmire, Lou. "Reward upped for fugitive killer who escaped old Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus in 1973". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "Lester Eubanks Murdered a Girl and Escaped From Prison. So Where Is He Now?". Cosmopolitan. October 21, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Erickson, Erika (January 16, 2020). "Teen murderer Lester Eubanks escaped police in 1973. The hunt for him may lead to Detroit area". FOX 2 Detroit. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  6. ^ Bonvillian, Crystal; Desk, Cox Media Group National Content. "Escaped child killer gone 45 years makes U.S. Marshals' most wanted list". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Lester Eubanks' Prison Escape Is Investigated In 'Unsolved Mysteries' — What Leads Do Authorities Have Now?". Oxygen Official Site. October 19, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  8. ^ "Netflix's 'Unsolved Mysteries' brings in tips on brutal fugitive who killed 14-year-old girl in 1965". KIRO 7 News Seattle. October 27, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  9. ^ "Unsolved Mysteries receives hundreds of tips on Lester Eubanks case after episode lands on Netflix". Radio Times. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Where is Lester Eubanks from Unsolved Mysteries now?". Radio Times. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Gillibrand, Abigail (October 19, 2020). "Unsolved Mysteries: Where is Lester Eubanks 47 years after escaping death row?". Metro. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  12. ^ Newsweek Staff (December 11, 2018). "Marshals Seek Child Killer On the Lam for 45 Years". Newsweek. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  13. ^ a b c "Columbus area is home to thousands of unsolved mysteries. Here are a few notable cases". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e "'Have You Seen This Man' podcast: US Marshals renew calls for tips to find escaped death row inmate". ABC News. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d e "47 Years Ago, Lester Eubanks Escaped From Prison. Today, He's Still At Large". Esquire. October 22, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  16. ^ Levine, Steve (March 30, 2021). "New leads being pursued in 1973 escape of convicted child killer after TV show profile". WSYX. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  17. ^ Service • •, City News (March 27, 2021). "One Of the Most Wanted Fugitives in the US Being Sought in Los Angeles Area". NBC Los Angeles. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Most wanted fugitive who escaped in 1973 now sought in Los Angeles area". NBC News. March 29, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  19. ^ "15 Most Wanted Fugitives". U.S. Marshals Service. September 22, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
  20. ^ "Prison Fugitive Featured on Netflix's 'Unsolved Mysteries' Sought in LA Area". March 31, 2021.
  21. ^ Mitchell, Molli (October 20, 2022). "Has Netflix's "Unsolved Mysteries" helped to solve any cases?". Newsweek. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
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