GRAND BLANC, Mich. (WXYZ) — A man who was on the FBI's Most Wanted list for nearly 50 years was arrested in Grand Blanc on Thursday, the FBI Pittsburgh Division said.
Leonard Rayne Moses was wanted on a warrant issued in Pennsylvania in 1971, and escaped the area in 1971. The FBI said at some point, he assumed the identity of Paul Dickson.
Since at least 1999, feds say he was working as a traveling pharmacist in Michigan. He was arrested earlier this year, and his fingerprints were entered into a system, and matched the prints taken after an arrest in 1968.
Moses was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder during the Pittsburgh Riots in 1968. He and his friends threw Molotov cocktails at house, which killed Mary Amplo inside.
On June 1, 1971, Moses escaped custody of law enforcement officials while he was attending his grandmother's funeral in Pittsburgh.
“I hope this arrest brings some closure to the family members of Mary Amplo, who was killed back in 1968,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Michael Christman. “Mr. Moses will now have to face justice for her murder. Through coordination with the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office and our partners in Michigan, we were able to identify Mr. Moses using the FBI’s Next Generation Identification system. It’s these new advances in technology that the FBI must continue to identify and use to make sure those who commit crimes are brought to justice.”
“The arrest of Leonard Moses brings a measure of closure to the family of the victim, Mary Amplo,” said Allegheny County Sheriff William Mullen. “The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the FBI has steadily worked this case throughout the decades. We are thankful for the combined efforts of the involved law enforcement agencies who were involved in bringing Moses to face justice. It proves the axiom that you cannot outrun your past.”
