Florida fugitives convicted after ‘America’s Most Wanted’ reboot leads to bust

A pair of Florida fugitives who spent greater than a decade on the run had been convicted within the loss of life of a diver this week after a section on the “America’s Most Needed” reboot seemingly led to their arrest.

Christopher Jones, 57, and Alison Gracey, 54, pleaded responsible in federal courtroom Friday to involuntary manslaughter within the 2011 boating loss of life of 36-year-old diver Aimee Rhoads, the Division of Justice mentioned.

Jones and Gracey —  a British couple who ran a scuba firm in Key Largo — knew their constitution boat had main security issues earlier than it capsized whereas carrying Rhoads and 5 different passengers on Dec. 18, 2011, in accordance with the federal prosecutors in Florida.

The shoddily maintained, 25-foot vessel, dubbed Get Moist, “started taking up water” and “sank about 30 toes to the ocean flooring,” drowning Rhoads, prosecutors mentioned.

“A prison investigation following the loss of life of the diver revealed that Jones and Gracey knew earlier than the tragedy that the vessel wanted repairs,” the DOJ mentioned in a press launch. 

After the boat sank, a unfastened bench trapped Rhodes underwater.

“Manufactured from buoyant materials, the bench sprang in the direction of the ocean’s floor, because the vessel itself sank. The 2 massive and heavy objects collided, pinning one passenger’s legs in opposition to the vessel’s windshield. [She] was trapped and drowned,” the authorities mentioned.

After eluding US legislation enforcement for almost 11 years, the couple was featured on Fox’s “America’s Most Needed” with John Walsh in April 2021 — full with a rendering of what they seemingly regarded like a decade after the tragedy.

Simply 4 days after the present aired, they had been arrested close to Madrid, Spain.

The fugitives had been quickly extradited to the US, the place they copped to “inflicting the loss of life of one other, with out malice, through the fee of a … industrial dive constitution” in South Florida federal courtroom Friday, courtroom paperwork present.

The couple is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

A DOJ spokeswoman didn’t instantly return a name Wednesday.