DNA Revealed a Father's Murderous Past

1959 prison mugshot of William Leslie Arnold. Photo courtesy of Nebraska State Penitentiary. Public domain.

A DNA test by a curious son has shattered a decades-long facade, exposing his father as a fugitive convicted of a brutal double murder. William Leslie Arnold, who lived under a false identity in Australia, was unmasked as a killer who had escaped from a Nebraska jail over 50 years ago.

A Life of Lies Built on Murder

In 1958, 16-year-old William Arnold killed his parents in Omaha after they refused to let him borrow the family car to take his girlfriend on a date. He hid their bodies in the backyard and continued living his life as if nothing had happened. To maintain the illusion, Arnold told relatives and friends that his parents had gone on vacation. However, when weeks passed with no sign of his parents, authorities began to suspect something was amiss. Arnold confessed to the murders, ultimately leading investigators to the backyard gravesite where he had buried his mother and father.

After being sentenced to two life-sentences, Arnold orchestrated an elaborate escape in 1967 with another inmate, James Harding. The two enlisted a former parolee to help them get supplies for their successful escape, using cleverly designed masks to deceive guards conducting headcounts and a hacksaw to cut the bars of the window. The pair fled by bus to Chicago, where they parted ways. Harding was captured within a year, but Arnold managed to disappear completely, leaving authorities with no trace of his whereabouts.

A New Identity and a Second Chance

After his escape, Arnold, only in his mid-20s, wasted no time rebuilding his life. Within three months, he married and became a father to four children. He moved frequently, living in Miami and California before heading overseas to New Zealand in 1978. Eventually, he settled in Australia, where he remarried and worked as a salesman. Under the name “John Damon,” Arnold blended seamlessly into the community, leading a quiet, unassuming life as a respected and beloved family man.

How a Genealogy Database Helped Crack the Case

The key to solving the decades-long mystery of William Leslie Arnold’s whereabouts came from the cooperation of a family member, his younger brother, who was not at home during the time of the murders. While most major commercial genealogy databases, such as AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and MyHeritage, do not allow law enforcement to upload crime scene DNA or unidentified remains DNA without specific permissions, there is a loophole. If a relative, like Arnold’s brother, willingly provides their DNA, the search can be conducted legally.

The Unravelling

It wasn’t until Arnold’s son decided to dig into his father’s past that the truth began to unravel. Growing up, Arnold’s son knew very little about his father’s family background, as Arnold claimed to be an orphan with no living relatives. This lack of information drove him to take a DNA test, hoping to uncover some details about his father’s ancestry. To his surprise, the DNA results pointed to a lineage connected to a wanted man in the United States when he reached out to the match.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Matthew Westover had the difficult task of explaining Arnold’s true identity to his son, reportedly saying about Arnold, “Well, he was an orphan. He didn’t lie about that, but he killed his parents, that’s why he was an orphan,” according to The Guardian.

Reflecting on the revelation, Arnold’s son shared his thoughts with CNN: “There’s no warning label on the DNA test kit telling you that you might not like what you find,” he said. “But I don’t regret doing it, and I’m glad I now know the truth about my dad.” Arnold, the loving father and grandfather they knew, was the same man responsible for the heinous murders of his own mother and father decades earlier.

A Cold Case Closed

Although Arnold had already passed away in 2010 at age 69, he took his secrets to the grave. For his family, the revelation was shocking, leaving them grappling with the duality of a man who was both a doting parent and a brutal killer. Meanwhile, law enforcement finally closed the books on a case that had haunted them for over half a century.

References: Loving father exposed as a convicted killer who lived life on the run | DNA evidence reveals family man in Australia was teenage killer who escaped Nebraska jail