37-year-old in a secret room: so he fouled the FBI one of the most wanted fugitives

After almost 40 years in search and capture, Donald Eugene Webb was finally located. It was late. The gangster, accused of murdering a police officer in 1980, was buried in his garden after having taken refuge in a secret room of his home for decades until his death in 1999.

The FBI found his body last Friday, days after discovering a compartment hidden in his home on the outskirts of Boston. Inside a cupboard was a door, and when opened, a small space where the authorities found a cane. There Webb, one of the ten most wanted fugitives, hid for 37 years. His wife and accomplice, Lillian Webb, continues to live in the house.

In December 1980, Webb, a jewelry thief with ties to the mafias of the US East Coast, killed the police chief of Saxonburg, a small Pennsylvania township after a struggle. Webb was injured in the leg and blood samples discovered in his car two weeks later matched his. The case generated great expectations at the time. The FBI searched for him for months without success and the reward to find him reached the 100,000 dollars.

Nothing was known of the fugitive until the FBI followed new clues, related to another crime, to re-register the house of the Webb. According to a newspaper investigation, the secret room was built illegally and was not part of the original structure of the house. The delinquent took refuge in her until its death by natural causes to the 60 years.

The wife of the late police officer, Mary Ann Jones, filed a conspiracy suit against Webb's wife. It is clear to her that the relatives of her husband's murderer should be brought to justice for hiding for decades. But the authorities agreed to immunity from the wife of the fugitive, 82, in exchange for their collaboration.

"He helped and conspired with a man wanted for murder. Seriously, he buried the body in his garden. It's incredible, "Jones said in an interview with The Boston Globe. The only satisfaction for the widow should be that expressed by the current police chief of the municipality where her husband died: "The greatest question in the history of Saxonburg has been answered. Although the pain continues, at least the doubt of what happened has been eliminated. "