In 1968, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a nineteenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. The FBI began the year 1968 with almost a clean slate for the top Ten list, as only one Top Tenner Fugitive on the list was a true multi-year long-timer still at large. The remaining nine fugitives on the list were all from the prior year: Even then, the FBI managed to clear most of this list through arrests very early in the year, and so by year end, the FBI had amazingly listed an additional thirty-two new Fugitives in 1968, by far surpassing the long-standing previous record of twenty-four additions from 1953. The huge number of new listings in 1968 capped a decade-long streak of double-digit additions to the list, and really ended the era of frequent listings and quick captures by the FBI. 1968 also brought the first woman to the list, Ruth Eisemann-Schier, at the end of the year. 1968 also saw the second and third "Special Additions," to the list (temporarily bringing the total wanted Fugitive count to eleven). One was Schier's partner, Gary Steven Krist, and the other was James Earl Ray, the infamous fugitive assassin of Martin Luther King Jr.

1968 fugitives

The Ten Most Wanted Fugitives listed by the FBI in 1968 include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):

Ronald Eugene Storck

January 19, 1968 #262 One month on the list Ronald Eugene Storck – U.S. prisoner arrested February 29, 1968, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Robert Leon McCain

January 31, 1968 #263 Three weeks on the list Robert Leon McCain – U.S. prisoner arrested February 23, 1968, in Gulfport, Florida, by local police. A police sergeant who had recently finished a training course at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia recognized McCain from the "Top Ten" flyers displayed there.

William Garrin Allen II

February 9, 1968 #264 One month on the list William Garrin Allen II – U.S. prisoner arrested March 23, 1968, in Brooklyn, New York.

Charles Lee Herron

February 9, 1968 #265 Eighteen years on the list; by 1982, he had surpassed the previous record of fourteen years set back in 1964 Charles Lee Herron – U.S. prisoner arrested June 18, 1986, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Leonard Daniel Spears

February 13, 1968 #266 Two weeks on the list Leonard Daniel Spears – U.S. prisoner arrested March 2, 1968, in Tampa, Florida.

William Howard Bornman

February 13, 1968 #267 One day on the list William Howard Bornman – U.S. prisoner arrested February 13, 1968, in Covington, Kentucky.

John Conway Patterson

February 26, 1968 #268 Three weeks on the list John Conway Patterson – U.S. prisoner arrested March 17, 1968, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by local police and his identity confirmed by fingerprints.

Troy Denver Martin

March 9, 1968 #269 One week on the list Troy Denver Martin – U.S. prisoner arrested March 19, 1968, in Seattle, Washington, after an employment agency manager recognized him from his Identification Order.

George Benjamin Williams

March 18, 1968 #270 Two months on the list George Benjamin Williams – found murdered May 26, 1968, his skeletal remains found by prospectors near a mine in Nevada, with three bullet holes in his skull. Williams had been dead for six months.

Michael John Sanders

March 21, 1968 #271 Two weeks on the list Michael John Sanders – U.S. prisoner arrested April 8, 1968, in New York City.

Howard Callens Johnson

March 21, 1968 #272 One month on the list Howard Callens Johnson – U.S. prisoner arrested April 24, 1968, in Louisville, Kentucky, after a citizen recognized him from a wanted poster.

George Edward Wells

March 28, 1968 #273 One year on the list George Edward Wells – U.S. prisoner arrested May 27, 1969, outside a motel in South Point, Ohio, by FBI Agents.

David Evans

April 3, 1968 #274 One month on the list David Evans – U.S. prisoner arrested April 26, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after being shot twice by local police as they responded to a burglar alarm at a doctor's home.

Franklin Allen Paris

April 9, 1968 #275 One month on the list Franklin Allen Paris – U.S. prisoner arrested May 21, 1968, in Lakehead, California.

David Stuart Neff

April 18, 1968 #276 One week on the list David Stuart Neff – U.S. prisoner arrested April 25, 1968, in Brooklyn, New York.

James Earl Ray

April 20, 1968 #277, & also June 11, 1977 #351 Two months on the list, the second "Special Addition" James Earl Ray – deceased in prison; was a U.S. prisoner, and a British prisoner, apprehended June 8, 1968, in London, England, by British authorities for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

John Wesley Shannon, Jr.

May 7, 1968 #278 One month on the list John Wesley Shannon, Jr. – U.S. prisoner arrested June 5, 1968, in Camden, New Jersey, by FBI agents and local police.

Taylor Morris Teaford

May 10, 1968 #279 Four years on the list Taylor Morris Teaford – PROCESS DISMISSED May 24, 1972, in Fresno, California.

Phillip Morris Jones

June 5, 1968 #280 Three weeks on the list Phillip Morris Jones – U.S. prisoner surrendered June 26, 1968, at the FBI office in San Mateo, California, after seeing wanted poster in a local post office. At the time of his arrest, he had a fully loaded automatic pistol in his possession.

Johnny Ray Smith

June 20, 1968 #281 Four days on the list Johnny Ray Smith – U.S. prisoner arrested June 24, 1968, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, after a citizen recognized him from a newspaper article.

Byron James Rice

July 5, 1968 #282 Four years on the list Byron James Rice – U.S. prisoner surrendered October 2, 1972, to the Chicago FBI Field Office following intensive FBI investigative pressure on his acquaintances.

Robert LeRoy Lindblad

July 11, 1968 #283 Three months on the list Robert Leroy Lindblad – U.S. prisoner surrendered October 7, 1968, to the District Attorney of Lyon County, Nevada, in Yerington, Nevada.

James Joseph Scully

July 15, 1968 #284 One week on the list James Joseph Scully – U.S. prisoner arrested July 23, 1968, in Arcadia, California, by FBI agents and local police. He had robbed over 10 banks and shot and wounded a bank teller before being caught.

Billy Ray White

August 13, 1968 #285 Four days on the list Billy Ray White – U.S. prisoner arrested August 17, 1968. White was arrested after a citizen recognized him from an article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper.

Frederick Rudolph Yokom

August 29, 1968 #286 One week on the list Frederick Rudolph Yokom – U.S. prisoner arrested September 17, 1968, in Wood River, Illinois, after a citizen recognized him.

Harold James Evans

September 19, 1968 #287 Four months on the list Harold James Evans – U.S. prisoner arrested January 2, 1969, in Chicago, Illinois. Arrested for mafia crimes and jewelry store robbery.

Robert Lee Carr

October 18, 1968 #288 Three weeks on the list Robert Lee Carr – U.S. prisoner arrested November 4, 1968, in South Gate, California, after a citizen recognized him from a wanted flyer.

Levi Washington

November 15, 1968 #289 Three weeks on the list Levi Washington – U.S. prisoner arrested December 5, 1968, in Jackson, Michigan, for a local bank robbery. A fingerprint comparison revealed his true identity.

Richard Lee Tingler

May 19, 1968 #290 Five months on the list Richard Lee Tingler – U.S. prisoner arrested May 19, 1968, in Washita County, Oklahoma, by local police.

George Michael Gentile

June 18, 1968 #291 Six months on the list George Michael Gentile – U.S. prisoner arrested December 17, 1968, in New York City by local police.

Gary Steven Krist

December 20, 1968 #292 Two days on the list, third "Special Addition" ever added to the list Gary Steven Krist – U.S. prisoner arrested December 22, 1968, in Punta Gorda, Florida, by FBI and local police. Krist and his partner, Ruth Eisemann Schier (Fugitive #293) were later indicted on Georgia state charges of kidnapping with ransom.

Ruth Eisemann-Schier

December 28, 1968 #293 Three months on the list, the first woman ever added to the list Ruth Eisemann-Schier – U.S. prisoner arrested March 5, 1969, in Norman, Oklahoma, by FBI agents. Ruth Eisemann Schier and her partner, Gary Steven Krist (Fugitive #292), were later indicted on Georgia state charges of kidnapping with ransom.

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