FUGITIVE SURRENDERS AFTER 39 YEARS

Thirty-nine years after he escaped from Eastern State Hospital, convicted murderer John Lyle Wilson returned to Washington state Friday to face justice.

Wilson, now 67 and also known as James Ostrander, was serving a 30-year sentence for second-degree murder. He was an accomplice in the killing of a Seattle grocer.

Surrounded by his weeping children and grandchildren, Wilson turned himself in at the Capitol in Olympia.

Wilson was led by authorities into Gov. Mike Lowry's outer office and served papers before being taken to a state prison in nearby Shelton. Last month, Lowry filed an extradition request seeking Wilson's return from Oregon, where he had been living.

Wilson was involved in a 1953 robbery in which grocery store owner Nunzio Salle was killed. Wilson's partner in the robbery hit Salle with a gun, and it went off, killing the grocer. The partner served 15 years in prison. He has since died.

Wilson's attorney, Walter J. Todd, said he turned himself in to show he's sorry and ready to face his fate.

"I apologized in 1964" for Salle's death, and "I continue to apologize," Wilson told reporters before entering the Capitol.

The victim's son, Bernie Salle, who continues to run the family store now called Bernie and the Boys, said he wants Wilson returned to prison.

"I think he must fulfill his commitment to justice and to society and to himself," Salle said.

The state Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board will decide Wilson's fate during the next 60 days. They will review the case, including his life since his escape, before making a decision.

Wilson was one of three men who sawed their way out of the maximum security building at Eastern State Hospital in March 1957. The other two were quickly arrested.

He had been transferred to the state hospital after attempting to slash his wrists at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla.

FBI agents did catch up with Wilson in 1964. By that time, he was living in Portland and was married, with a child and several step-children. He was working as a welder and even coached Little League baseball.

Then-Oregon Gov. Mark Hatfield refused to allow extradition to Washington state. Hatfield noted that Wilson had been living a respectable life in Portland since his escape.

Wilson stayed in Oregon and worked in construction. Then he hurt his back, and doctors urged him to move to a drier climate.

In 1991, Wilson moved to Yuma, Ariz., and transferred his Social Security payments there. A random check by the government revealed that he was a fugitive.

Wilson was arrested in Arizona and released pending a hearing. But he fled, heading back to Oregon where he thought he still would be safe from prosecution. He wasn't. Police showed up at a friend's house, and Wilson decided to surrender.

Bernie Salle learned of Wilson's reappearance from a reporter during the last two weeks. For decades, he didn't know what had become of Wilson.

"When my dad got killed, I really had to go to work then. I had a widowed mother, a new bride and a grocery store to keep alive," he said. "There was a lot of pressure."

But the sadness of his father's death and Wilson's disappearance haunts him now more than ever. "It didn't seem to bother me as much as in the last 10 days."

Copyright 1996 Cowles Publishing Company
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