Florida Sex Offender Gary Wayne Howard Caught After 16 Years Fleeing

Last Updated:November 16, 2025, 21:19 IST

Gary Wayne Howard, a Florida sex offender who faked his death in 2010 to evade police, was arrested in Indianapolis after 16 years on the run.

Detectives had found out that elderly sex offender Gary Wayne Howard had a “significant number of relatives” living in Indiana on whom he could depend. (IMAGE: Vandenburgh County Sheriff’s Office)

A 74-year-old sex offender from the US state of Florida who faked his own death to escape arrest and evade police for almost 16 years was arrested from the US state of Indiana this week.

Upon arrest from Indianapolis, Gary Wayne Howard, told the police that he had hoped to have died before he was captured. Howard was arrested by US Marshals. He has been at large since his staged death in 2010.

“I had hoped to be dead before you caught up with me," Howard said, according to local broadcaster WXIN.

The elderly Florida citizen was branded a sex offender for life in the state after he was found guilty of 22 counts of child pornography possession in Pinellas County in 2007, the New York Post said in a report.

Howard violated his probation in 2010 and escaped from Florida for Indiana. Officials said Howard may have abandoned a rental car near Mauzy Lake in Kentucky’s Morganfield and made it appear like he killed himself.

Officials said that the plot was a “deliberate attempt by Howard to stage his own death to appear as a suicide".

Pinellas County issued an arrest warrant for Howard in March 2011 when he failed to register as a sex offender. The order had said that he be brought safely to court in Clearwater, Florida, to face his charges, as per court records accessed by the New York Post.

Detectives had found out that elderly sex offender Gary Wayne Howard had a “significant number of relatives" living in Indiana on whom he could depend.

Officers surveilling the area spotted Howard living in a home in the Irvington neighborhood. Once he stepped out onto his front porch, US marshall agents arrested him.

Howard was booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail, about 260 kilometres southwest of Indianapolis.

He is being held on charges from other agencies and is expected to be extradited to Florida, where he will face possible imprisonment for violating probation and 32 counts of failing to register as a sex offender.

News world Florida Sex Offender Gary Wayne Howard Caught After 16 Years Fleeing

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