30 years later, an Oregon refugee was found under the identity of a dead child

A perpetrator who has been on the run for almost 30 years was arrested this week in the US state of Georgia. It turned out that he was living under the identity of a child who died 62 years ago.

Steven Craig Johnson was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service at an apartment complex in Macon around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Johnson, now 70, escaped from a prison labor squad in Oregon on November 29, 1994. According to Portland CBS affiliate KOIN, he was convicted of three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of attempted first-degree sodomy.

He escaped from the Mill Creek Correctional Facility – a minimum-security, fenceless prison – in Salem, the Oregon Department of Corrections said. Governor Kate Brown closed the facility in 2021.

Johnson was long considered one of Oregon’s most wanted fugitives; Texas was mentioned as a possible escape destination.

“Based on his criminal record, Fugitive Johnson is a pedophile and there is a high likelihood that he will abuse prepubescent boys,” the Department of Corrections previously warned in a bulletin. “Fugitive Johnson should be prohibited from having contact with children.”

The Marshals Service said it joined the search for Johnson in 2015 and eventually tracked him down using “new investigative technology from the Diplomatic Security Service.” No further information was provided.

Investigators found that Johnson was living under the false name “William Cox.” The real William Cox died as a child in January 1962 in Texas, the Marshals Service said.

Johnson received a Social Security number in Texas in 1995 after obtaining a copy of Cox’s birth certificate. He obtained a driver’s license in Georgia under that name in 1998.

Johnson was taken into custody in Macon and is awaiting extradition to Oregon.