![]() ![]() Norman Johnston was eventually captured about a mile from Longwood Gardens. This detail is an eerie parallel to the recorded message that police have played from Cavalcante’s mother with the same desperate plea over a loudspeaker during the recent manhunt. One liquor store where Johnston was spotted put up a sign that read: “Run Norman Run.” T-shirts appeared in the area that read: “I am not Norman Johnston” on the front and “Don’t Shoot” on the back.ĭuring the manhunt, investigators convinced Norman Johnston’s mother, Louise Johnston, to make a televised appeal for her son to give himself up before he got killed. There were many sightings of Johnston, but it was like a game of “Where is Waldo?” The police always seemed to just miss him every time they arrived to investigate these reports. Like Cavalcante, authorities said Johnston changed his clothing, called on family and friends for help, and stole at least four cars to make his getaways. “He said 'We’re going to provide around-the-clock surveillance protection for you at your home.' I said: ‘Well, that’s very nice.’ And they did that,” Lamb recalled. When Norman Johnston escaped, the governor’s office reached out to Lamb. “He said his mission was to come to my house, not to hurt me, but to come my house because I had papers that would exonerate him,” said Lamb. Buried treasure would be impossible to find.īut former Chester County District Attorney William Lamb, who prosecuted the Johnstons, recalls that Norman Johnston had another reason for escaping. ![]() The rumor was that the gang had buried cash like treasure in the once bucolic rolling farmlands Rapid development had transformed the once rural area into the suburbs, and nothing looked the same. Rumors that the gang had buried cash like treasure Johnston traveled roughly 170 miles from the prison to his old stomping grounds in Chester County where he was on the run for nearly three weeks, spending much of his time in the woods. Some of the victims were teenagers and relatives of the gang members, and some were even buried alive. One-by-one, the suspected snitches were shot and buried in hand-dug graves. The gang of brothers had been stealing large farm equipment and breaking into homes and businesses for a decade without getting caught.īut when younger members of the gang started talking to police, the brothers feared they would end up in prison. His older brother, Bruce Johnston, who was considered the ringleader, was convicted of killing six people. Norman Johnston, along with his brother, David Johnston, was convicted of killing four people. ![]() The nationwide manhunt for Cavalcante is reminiscent of another dark moment in the state’s history – the escape of Norman Johnston from a prison near Altoona, Pa., in August 1999. Cavalcante was spotted on several Ring doorbell cameras nearby. The area includes a popular tourist spot called Longwood Gardens. An estimated 400 officers are searching for Cavalcante and setting up perimeters to keep him from going too far. ![]()
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