One of the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitives, escaped murderer Richard Lee McNair, was taken into custody in Canada today due to the determination – and stamina – of a pair of officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

McNair, who had been spotted several times in Canada since his escape from a Louisiana prison in April 2006, was pulled over by RCMP officers this morning on a traffic stop in Campbellton, New Brunswick. Unlike a prior traffic stop several months earlier in which McNair was able to elude Canadian authorities on foot, this time a RCMP constable stayed with McNair as a lengthy foot pursuit went off the road and into the woods. The constable was able to catch up and apprehend him.

Prior to today’s arrest, U.S. Marshals had been actively working with Canadian authorities to assist in the apprehension of McNair. “I am delighted that Richard McNair is finally in custody,” said William Sorukas, Chief of the Task Force Operations Branch for the U.S. Marshals. “This fugitive had been particularly frustrating, since he was so close to being apprehended immediately after his escape in Louisiana, and on a few occasions in Canada. He was a priority for us, and I want to thank our Canada law enforcement partners for running him down and bringing him in.”

McNair is probably best known for his encounter with a Louisiana police officer, which was caught on tape from a camera mounted in the officer’s police cruiser. The video shows McNair calmly convincing the officer – who was posted as a lookout – that he was not a recently escaped fugitive from the federal penitentiary in Pollock, Louisiana, but rather was on his way to do roofing work locally.

Prior to his escape, McNair was serving three life sentences for murder, attempted murder and burglary in North Dakota. He escaped after concealing himself in a secret compartment under a pallet of mail bags. Following transport on a truck from the prison to a local mail facility, he broke out from his hiding place. That escape was his third since his 1987 murder conviction. He had previously escaped from two facilities in North Dakota.

U.S. Marshals are awaiting word on McNair’s extradition back to the United States.

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For more information, go to the U.S. Marshals web site at www.usmarshals.gov.