Johnny Wright is on trial as of this writing in the presumed murder of Rebecca Doisy, a 23-year-old waitress who disappeared from Columbia, Missouri in 1976. The way Wright got apprehended is kind of funny. Nine years after Rebecca disappeared (that is, in 1985), a witness came forward and on the strength of that evidence the police charged Wright with second-degree murder. He had skipped town by then and no one knew where he was, and apparently nobody tried terribly hard to find him, because he remained an unwitting fugitive from justice until 2009. In 2009, Wright was in Georgia and he was applying for some job that required a background check, so he went to the police station and asked them to do one. And then, whoops, it turns out he’s wanted for murder.
Guess he didn’t get the job then.
Fun fact: Rebecca is the granddaughter of the guy who co-discovered Vitamin K and co-won the 1943 Nobel Prize in Medicine as a result.
Anyway, articles:
Trial of Johnny Wright Poses Challenge for Mo. Prosecutors; Victim Vanished in 1976, Body Never Found
Detective testifies about poem found in Wright’s car
Jurors hear testimony in Doisy murder trial
Witnesses’ testimonies piece together trail up to Johnny Wright’s arrest
Original investigator of Doisy disappearance testifies during Wright trial
Trial for murder of former MU student begins
Trial starts in 35-year-old murder
The Charley Project Blog 