Woman Captured After Escaping Prison—in 1977

Judy Lynn Hayman caught, 36 years later
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2014 12:46 PM CST

Judy Lynn Hayman has finally been caught ... more than 36 years after she escaped from a Michigan prison. Hayman, who was then 23 and serving a 16- to 24-month sentence for attempted larceny, fled the Huron Valley Correctional Facility on April 14, 1977. She had served 10 months of her sentence at the time, the Los Angeles Times reports. Finally, this year, Michigan corrections officials tracked Hayman to San Diego, where police confirmed the woman calling herself Jamie Lewis was actually Hayman and arrested the now-60-year-old on Monday, NBC San Diego reports.

Police say Hayman eventually admitted her true identity; she now faces extradition to Michigan. Her neighbor says Hayman was paranoid and lived a quiet, private life, but her son (who wouldn't say whether he knew about his mother's double life) says she often attended church and PTA meetings. An officer says a 32-year-old son who was at his mother's house when she was arrested seemed "quite surprised" at the revelation, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. In 2008, another escapee from a Michigan prison was caught in San Diego—this one after 32 years. (More fugitive stories.)

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