America's Most Wanted fugitive arrested after 20 years on the run

Ronald L. Fischer was taken into custody off the coast of New York and New Jersey after authorities traced him to a 56-foot sailing vessel called The Silver Lining about an hour offshore. At 70, Fischer’s arrest closed a fugitive case that had stretched across more than two decades after he fled Rhode Island during his criminal trial for first-degree sexual assault in 2005.

The U.S. Marshals Service said Fischer had been on the run since that flight and was later convicted in absentia of first-degree sexual assault. Rhode Island State Police had listed him as one of Rhode Island’s Most Wanted fugitives, and his profile had reached national television through America’s Most Wanted, keeping the case in the public record long after the trial date passed.

The break in the case came from a tip received by the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force, which helped lead investigators to Fischer’s location. Authorities then identified him on The Silver Lining, a 56-foot sailing vessel operating offshore, and moved to arrest him in the waters between Rhode Island and the New York-New Jersey coast.

The capture highlights how a defendant can disappear in the middle of a serious criminal case and remain hidden even as years pass and public attention fades. Fischer’s arrest also shows the value of fugitive task forces that combine local, state and federal tracking with outside tips, especially in cases where a suspect may try to use mobility, distance and anonymity to stay out of reach.

For the people involved in the sexual-assault case, the arrest came only after a long delay that stretched from the 2005 trial flight to the eventual offshore capture. Federal and state authorities publicly announced the arrest after more than 20 years on the run, bringing one of Rhode Island’s most closely watched fugitive cases to a close.