Florence fugitive Jack Duane Crist arrested in Chico after nearly two-year manhunt

Chico Police Department detectives took 48-year-old Jack Duane Crist of Florence, Oregon, into custody Feb. 17 after a surveillance operation at a residence in the 1500 block of East Lassen Avenue in Chico, KRCR reported. Crist was booked into Butte County Jail and will be held pending extradition to Lane County, officials said.

Crist pleaded guilty in 2023 to first-degree rape and first-degree attempted rape of a minor, then failed to appear for sentencing in 2024, prompting an outstanding warrant tied to original charges that Register-Guard reporting lists as three counts of first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and first-degree attempted rape. KEZI and other outlets corroborated the 2023 plea and the 2024 failure-to-appear that triggered the manhunt.

Lane County detectives and federal partners tracked Crist across multiple states during the nearly two-year search. Investigators traced him to West Plains, Missouri, where he fled before officers could arrest him; learned he had spent about a year in Yucca, Arizona; and later discovered he was in Bly, Oregon, east of Klamath Falls, the Register-Guard reported. KRCR said Crist had been on the U.S. Marshals most wanted list since May 2024, and Register-Guard reporting noted investigators at one point believed he may have fled to Alaska.

On Feb. 17 investigators executed related operations in two states. Oregon State Police SWAT assisted Lane County detectives serving a search warrant in Bly; Crist was not at that location and two residents there were arrested on charges of hindering prosecution, Sgt. Tim Wallace of the Lane County Sheriff’s Office told the Register-Guard. KRCR reported that detectives in Chico were contacted the same day by the Lane County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service after receiving information Crist might be in the Chico area, and that Chico detectives put the residence under surveillance.

Within hours of surveillance in the 1500 block of East Lassen Avenue, officers observed Crist leaving the home and arrested him, KRCR reported. KEZI said Crist was "taken into custody without incident." After the arrest, he was booked into the Butte County Jail; KRCR described the arrest as occurring on an "outstanding federal felony warrant," while other outlets described it as an outstanding felony warrant. The Register-Guard quoted Sgt. Tim Wallace saying, "Crist was arrested for his outstanding felony warrant and booked into the Butte County Jail pending extradition to Lane County."

Authorities say they will coordinate extradition to Oregon; KRCR indicated the U.S. Marshals Service will handle extradition logistics. The Lane County Sheriff’s Office asks anyone who may have been victimized by Crist during his time on the run to call 541-682-4150. The Register-Guard’s Haleigh Kochanski and KRCR’s Adam Robinson reported key elements of the investigation.