Content warning: rape, attempted rape, and murder; Lester Eubanks, condemned to death for the savage murder of teenage girl Mary Ellen Deener, has since escaped from prison and has been on the run for nearly 50 years; Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries (opens in new tab), Volume 2 features the story of this crime and Eubanks' escape.

According to those who knew him, Eubanks was a loner, a creative man, secretive and predatory. He already had a sex conviction in 1965 when he murdered Mary Ellen Deener, 14, while attempting to assault her. While her sister was waiting at the laundromat, Deener walked a short distance to get some change. Eubanks confessed (although he later claimed insanity) and showed no remorse for his crime. He was sentenced to death.

In 1972, Eubanks' sentence was commuted to life in prison after the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. He became familiar with the guards and the system as a whole, became a member of the Prison Artists Program, and became known as a model prisoner. Because of his good behavior, he was allowed to go shopping without an escort in December 1973. In the weeks leading up to his outing, he had been receiving more visitors, which suggests that he may have been preparing to escape and may have had help. (He was apparently not the only inmate to escape, and the program was quickly terminated for fairly obvious reasons.)

The prisoners were also allowed to stay in the prison for a few weeks.

Eubanks was believed to have worked in Alabama for a time, but had left by the time investigators learned about it. He has not been traced since.

Authorities believe that Eubanks spent time in Los Angeles, California, and Michigan as "Victor Young." According to LAPD Detective Tim Connor, reliable information about Eubanks has been received from several states, including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, California, and Ohio, but nothing about his current whereabouts. Eubanks is currently in his 70s.

"He is very cunning, not a dumb man. He has eluded the authorities for over 40 years." I don't think he has ever had a job that required fingerprinting or photography. I don't think he ever had a job that required background checks. He was a man who never stayed in one place for too long."

Eubanks was added to the U.S. Marshals' Most Wanted list in 2018. One compelling aspect of his case at this point is the authorities' desire to compare Eubanks' son's DNA to DNA samples from across the U.S. (a so-called "family investigation (open in new tab).") FBI policy prohibits the use of family DNA, even if it is the family's own will. In this case, Eubanks was a mother. In this case, the anonymous man who claims that Eubanks raped his mother has stated that he hopes Eubanks will be arrested.

Anyone with information about Eubanks should visit unsolved.com.