Ohio board considers parole for man who was 55-year fugitive

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An Ohio board will hear arguments on whether to grant parole for a man who disappeared from a prison camp in 1959 while serving time for manslaughter and was found last year in rural Florida.

Frank Freshwaters wasn’t expected to attend Thursday’s hearing before the full state parole board in Columbus. It was slated to hear from both sides, including an attorney for Freshwaters.

Investigators who tracked down Freshwaters last May say he was living off Social Security benefits under an alias at a weathered trailer in rural Brevard County, Florida. The 79-year-old widower was returned to Ohio and had a closed parole hearing in August.

He was first caught in West Virginia in 1975 but wasn’t extradited, as the state’s governor concluded Freshwaters had a “flawless 16-year residency” there.