PROVIDENCE, R.I. — After more than two decades on the run, one of Rhode Island’s most wanted fugitives, Ronald Fischer, is finally behind bars.
Ronald Fischer fled while on trial in Rhode Island in 2005 for first-degree sexual assault. The trial continued without him, and Fischer was convicted in absentia.
For more than 20 years, investigators say Fischer managed to stay one step ahead.
20 years of searching ultimately came down to a lead this summer that triggered a fast-moving 48-hour investigation and one that would eventually move from land to water.
FBI intelligence analyst Cynthia Pimentel told Boston 25 News she came across a tip from a citizen that included a photograph and a name: Richard Graydon. “They provided a picture and a name, which was Richard Graydon,” Pimentel said.
That name caught investigators’ attention. Richard Graydon was one of several aliases’ investigators say Fischer used throughout his years on the run.
Pimentel brought FBI Special Agent Evan Kalaher into the investigation. When investigators began digging into the identity of “Richard Graydon,” Kalaher said things didn’t add up.
“The fact that there was no address history, there was no medical license and then obviously the fact that he was into yachting and owning boats and that’s what led us to that marina in New Jersey,” Kalaher told Boston 25 News.
Investigators also uncovered evidence suggesting Fischer’s disappearance more than two decades earlier was not simply a spur-of-the-moment decision. “He had time while he was standing trial, while he was arrested, to plot this strategy,” investigators told Boston 25.
“When they searched his residence in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, after he fled, they found documents on how to avoid apprehension, how to live as an expatriate in a foreign country,” investigators told Boston 25 News.
Investigators even used age-progression photos in years-long search
“There was a lot done on this case, a lot of orders, a lot of intelligence done, and we even did age-progression photos because it had been 21 years, so we didn’t know exactly how he looked,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Carvalho said.
Carvalho had spent nine years working the case before finally coming face-to-face with Fischer. Investigators say Fischer left the Manhattan Yacht Club aboard a 56-foot sailboat called the Silver Lining.
“There was when I actually said, ‘Ronald Fischer, you’re under arrest,’” Carvalho recalled. “He kind of looked down and said, ‘My name is Richard Graydon.’ But when he looked down, he looked down with defeat a little bit.”
Authorities then worked to confirm the man they had taken into custody was, in fact, the fugitive they had been searching for.
“Once we confirmed it was him through fingerprint analysis and everything else, it was rewarding,” Carvalho said. Investigators say Fischer’s arrest was the result of years of work and cooperation among multiple law enforcement agencies.
Law enforcement agencies also credited the Portsmouth Police Department for its work at the beginning of the case.
Fischer is now back in custody and forced to face the consequences of a conviction he spent more than two decades trying to escape.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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