Leslie Arnold

William Leslie Arnold (August 28, 1942 – August 6, 2010), who later lived under the alias John Vincent Damon, was an American murderer and long-term fugitive.

At age 16, in 1958, Arnold murdered his parents in their Omaha, Nebraska home and buried their bodies in the backyard. He was convicted the following year of two counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1967, Arnold and another inmate escaped from the Nebraska State Penitentiary, becoming the last prisoners to successfully flee the facility.

Following his escape, Arnold eluded authorities for more than four decades. He lived under assumed identities in California and Florida before immigrating to New Zealand in 1978. He later settled in Tamborine Mountain, Australia, where he lived quietly until his death in 2010.

In 2023, forensic DNA analysis confirmed that John Vincent Damon and William Leslie Arnold were the same person, conclusively solving one of Nebraska’s oldest fugitive cases.