Fugitive Finally Captured: 'The Eyes Gave Her Away'

By NPR Staff

Published February 15, 2014 at 4:00 PM EST

Judy Lynn Hayman escaped from a Michigan prison nearly 37 years ago while serving time for attempted larceny.

Earlier this winter, Lt. Charles Levens from the Michigan Department of Corrections was stuck at work.

"Well, that day was a bad snow day," he says. "We were not working too much in the field. The roads were horrible, the temperatures were below zero and it was a good day to work on some cold cases."

Cooped up in his office, he pulled out an old file on a woman named Judy Lynn Hayman. She was an escapee who broke out of a Michigan prison in 1977.

"Our department policy requires that any of our cold cases or escapee cases from the '60s and '70s be investigated at least once a year to see if we can follow up or come up with any new leads," Levens says.

'Jackpot'

Hayman had been arrested for attempting to steal clothes at a Detroit department store. She served only half her sentence before vanishing 37 years ago.

Levens sent her fingerprints off to the FBI's special processing unit. "Two weeks later, we hit the jackpot," he says.

Hayman's prints matched those of a 60-year-old woman who had once been arrested on drug charges back in 1980. She was living across the country in San Diego.

When police arrived at her apartment last week, they met a woman who said her name was Jamie Lewis. She even provided documentation to prove her identity. But Lt. Kevin Mayer from the San Diego Police Department says the officers weren't convinced.

"One of the officers had a picture of Ms. Hayman from 1977. And he was looking at that picture and compared it to the woman who was identifying herself as Jamie Lewis. And what he told me was that the eyes gave her away," Mayer says. "There was something distinctive about her eyes that led him to believe that this was, in fact, the wanted fugitive."

She was taken in for questioning and later admitted her true identity; she was indeed Judy Lynn Hayman. The matter now rests with the San Diego police.

Another Cold Case, Coincidentally Cracked

As unique as this case is, it brings on a strong sense of déjà vu for Levens. Just six years ago, he was investigating a different cold case on a woman named Susan LeFevre. She was sentenced to prison for a heroin deal and escaped in 1976.

"Kind of the same situation," he says. "The roads were bad and snowy, so I decided to work on a cold case and I started looking through her old prison files and some of the other files that other investigators had worked up on her over the years. I found a couple relatives that still lived in the Saginaw area here in Michigan."

After a string of interviews and an anonymous tip, Levens found LeFevre in 2008. She also happened to take up residence in San Diego and lived under the name Marie Walsh.

She was in her yard gardening when police took her back into custody. She spent 13 months in prison before returning to San Diego.

"Kind of a coincidence that there was another here in San Diego from their state," Mayer says. "Perhaps it's the weather."

Chasing down cold cases, even decades later, is all just part of his job, Levens says. He's already moved on to the next stack of cases.

"With the Michigan Department of Corrections here, our main function is to carry out the sentences of the court. We're bound by law to keep searching for these folks until we capture them and take them into custody so they can finish out their original sentence," Levens says. "I can assure you, if you're one of those people that are still out there from the '60s and '70s, we're still looking for you."