An Ohio man who spent over 50 years on the run after escaping from prison has been granted parole.

Frank Freshwaters drove into and killed Eugene Flynt in 1957 and was convicted of second-degree manslaughter. He escaped from an Ohio prison farm in 1959 and lived under an assumed name for 56 years.

>> Read more trending stories  

Freshwaters was arrested once in 1975 in West Virginia, but officials refused to extradite him to Ohio and he was released. In 2015, authorities eventually caught up with Freshwaters again in Florida, where he was going by William Cox.

Ohio's parole board agreed to free Freshwaters based on his clean record while on the lam. His parole begins April 24, and he's recommended to be released in West Virginia.

About the Author

Featured

Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

Credit: NYT