1977 Michigan prison escapee caught in San Diego

Judy Lynn Hayman caught 37 years after breaking out of Huron Valley Correctional Facility

DETROITHere is Judy Lynn Hayman's booking photo taken after her arrest in Michigan in 1976 for breaking into a building.

However, Hayman didn't stay behind bars for long. She broke out of the Huron Valley Correctional Facility a year later.

For almost 40 years no one knew what happened to her.

Then, on Monday night, a big break in the case: She was arrested in San Diego. She had been tracked down after the Michigan Department of Corrections received information she was hiding out in sunny southern California.

Does this sound familiar? Does it ever.

Remember Susan Lefevre? She is the fugitive mom who broke out of a Plymouth-area prison in 1977. She took off and created a brand new life using a different name -- Marie Walsh -- and she too started all over in San Diego, less than 2 miles from where Hayman was living.

Investigators with the Department of Corrections got a tip that Lefevre was living the high life in 2010 and the police closed in on her. Just like Lefevre did, once Hayman was confronted by police she admitted to her life on the run.

In another bizarre twist, when Lefevre was finally brought back to Michigan to face charges she was held at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility.

Lefevre contacted me after she was brought back to Michigan and locked up. She was desperate to return to her previous life.

"I'm not Marie Walsh yet," she said. "I prefer everybody in here ... I go by Susan, but I'll be very anxious to be Marie Walsh again and to go back to just a normal life.

Snyder: Action will be taken to prevent prison escapes


About the Author:

Hank Winchester is Local 4’s Consumer Investigative Reporter and the head of WDIV’s “Help Me Hank” Consumer Unit. Hank works to solve consumer complaints, reveal important recalls and track down thieves who have ripped off people in our community.