SAN DIEGO FUGITIVE FOUND DEAD IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Frederick Cecil McLean was living under alias, suspected of molestation
A fugitive sought for 16 years on charges of child molestation in San Diego County was found dead in South Carolina, where he’d been living under an alias, the U.S. Marshals Service anounced Friday.
Frederick Cecil McLean, 70, had been on the federal agency’s Most Wanted List since 2006, a year after he disappeared.
He’d spent the last 15 years living outside a small South Carolina town, where people knew him as James Fitzgerald, the agency said. On Nov. 6, a neighbor stopped into check on Fitzgerald, concerned that he’d not been seen for several weeks.
The neighbor found the decomposing body inside the home. Fingerprints taken during an autopsy revealed Fitzgerald’s true identity as McLean, U.S. Marshals said. Foul play is not suspected in his death.
“We wish McLean’s fate had been determined by a court of law 15 years ago,” U.S. Marshal Steve Stafford of the Southern District of California said Friday in a news release.
“We hope McLean’s death brings some sense of closure for the victims and their families, especially knowing he can never hurt another child.”
U.S. Marshals have said McLean
had gained access to his victims through people he met at church, where he was actively involved.
One victim estimated McLean had molested her more than 100 times, starting when she was 5 years old and continuing for seven years. The investigation into those accusations led to seven more victims coming forward.
The North County Times reported in 2006 that authorities suspected McLean might have assaulted children over the course of 20 years in communities throughout North County and Southwest Riverside County, where he lived.
In May 2004, family members of one of his accusers confronted McLean with allegations of molestation. “McLean admitted they were true,” U.S. Marshals said in a 2009 news release.
According to the agency, McLean
vanished four months later, leaving behind his pickup, cellphone and letters to his family. When he took off, McLean — a mechanic who once owned a business restoring and selling old race cars — had at least $100,000 in cash.
In 2006, he was placed on 15 Most Wanted List. Six years later, authorities thought maybe he was hiding in Oregon, but nothing came of it.
In 2014, McLean’s case was profiled on an episode of “The Hunt with John Walsh.”
Stafford said Friday that McLean used several aliases while on the run. He had lived in at least one other South Carolina community, and also in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Investigators suspect there may be other victims.