Mother's Obituary Helps Officers Nab 1981 Prison Escapee

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Investigators say a woman's obituary helped federal agents capture her fugitive son nearly four decades after he escaped from an Oklahoma prison.

The U.S. Marshals Service says 58-year-old Stephen Michael Paris was arrested without incident Thursday at an office in Houston where he worked under a pseudonym.

The agency says investigators tracked him down in Texas after a newspaper obituary for his mother listed a son in Houston named Stephen Michael Chavez. Fingerprints confirmed his identity.

Paris escaped from the Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in October 1981. He escaped after serving about 19 months of a nine-year sentence for drug possession and distribution.

He was also featured on the Oklahoma Department of Corrections' "Most Wanted" list.