Leslie Arnold

William Leslie Arnold (August 28, 1942 – August 6, 2010), who later lived under the alias John Vincent Damon, was an American murderer and long-term fugitive.

At age 16, in 1958, Arnold murdered his parents in their Omaha, Nebraska home and buried their bodies in the backyard. He was convicted the following year of two counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1967, Arnold and another inmate escaped from the Nebraska State Penitentiary, becoming the last prisoners to successfully flee the facility.

Following his escape, Arnold eluded authorities for more than four decades. He lived under assumed identities in California and Florida before immigrating to New Zealand in 1978. He later settled in Tamborine Mountain, Australia, where he lived quietly until his death in 2010.

In 2023, forensic DNA analysis confirmed that John Vincent Damon and William Leslie Arnold were the same person, conclusively solving one of Nebraska’s oldest fugitive cases.

Early life and crimes William Leslie "Les" Arnold was born on August 28, 1942, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Bill Arnold, managed the Omaha regional office of Watkins Products, a door-to-door sales company, while his mother, Opal, was a homemaker.

Neighbors and classmates described Arnold as an intelligent, talented teenager with a short temper. He participated in the ROTC and maintained a B-average in school, though some recalled him as “high-strung” and prone to frustration.

When police eventually questioned him, Arnold confessed and led investigators to the graves on October 11, 1958. He pleaded guilty the following year to two counts of second-degree murder and received a life sentence.

At the Nebraska State Penitentiary, Arnold was described by prison officials as a “model inmate” who excelled in academic and vocational programs and might have qualified for early release had he not later escaped custody.

Harding was recaptured the following year, but Arnold remained missing.

Discovery Arnold's son, who had been 19 when his father died, only knew that his father was an orphan and later decided to learn more about him. In 2018, he traveled to Chicago and was informed that his father’s birth certificate had been falsified. which ultimately led to contact from the U.S. Marshals Service.