World's Most Wanted

BY BRIAN EADS AND MICHAEL WELZENBACH

Grant Warren Beaucage

BRIGHT and pretty, Aileen O'Brien-Beaucage worked as a receptionist at an animal hospital where her warm, ready smile eased the mind of many an anxious pet owner. The job wasn't much, but it helped pay the rent and for the care of her eight-year-old daughter, Cailey, and seven-year-old son, Ryley. And Aileen had reason to be happy. After three years spent alone following a painful divorce, the 31-year-old resident of Burlington, Ont., had met a man she liked and who appeared to care for her.

       Her future, so full of promise, ended on February 22, 1994, in the parking lot of a mall. There, police discovered her body in the front passenger seat of a white Buick Century, her long honey-coloured hair spattered with blood. Someone had stabbed her at least 20 times in the back, piercing her lungs and nicking her heart. The car belonged to her ex-husband. Halton Regional Police did not have to look very far for a suspect.

       Grant Warren Beaucage was seemingly devastated by his ex-wife's murder. But the more investigators learned about him, the more certain they felt they had their man.

       Beaucage was the kind of guy people liked to be around, a slick, gregarious talker. Trouble was, he didn't care much for work. He spent most of his time gambling and golfing, living a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget by constantly borrowing money and living on social assistance.

       Increasingly in debt and behind on his support payments, police say, he attempted to reconcile with his wife. Then he found out that Aileen had met another man. Police believe Beaucage lured her into the car and murdered her in a fit of rage.

       Charged with his ex-wife's murder in June 1995, Beaucage pleaded innocent, portraying himself as the wronged ex-husband. But on January 22, 1997, days before his trial was to begin, Beaucage was spotted boarding a bus for Niagara Falls. He hasn't been seen since.

Kevin Vermette

It was the end of a lovely summer day in northern British Columbia when the four young men turned off Highway 37 in Kitimat. On their way to a friend's stag party, they wanted to stop for a few minutes to enjoy the scenery at Hirsch Creek Park. They didn't realize they were being followed.

       A red pickup truck suddenly pulled up beside them in the campground parking lot, and the RCMP allege that 42-year-old Kevin Vermette opened fire with a pump-action shotgun. Mark Teves, David Nunes and Mark Munto, all age 20, died. Donny Oliveira, also 20, ran for his life. He was shot in the back but survived.

       The man wanted for the attack, Kevin Louis Vermette, was a carpenter and a rebuilder of classic cars. Seven years earlier he had drifted back into Kitimat, where he had been raised, and decided to stay. But he had an uneasy relationship with some of the townsfolk. An opinionated loner, he had had several altercations with local young men -- including one, a month before, with Oliveira and Nunes.

       Vermette confronted the two in the weight room at the Riverlodge recreation centre over the music they'd chosen to play while working out. It hadn't been much -- nothing but words had been exchanged.

       In the early hours of Saturday, July 12, 1997, the day of the murder, someone slashed Vermette's tires in the parking lot of the Kitimat Motel, where he was the handyman.

       "I could kill anybody who did this," Vermette had told the proprietor.

       When police got to the Kitimat Motel, the suspect's pickup was in the parking lot, but Vermette and his dog were gone. Police searched the wilderness surrounding Kitimat for months, but Vermette was never found. The RCMP has received more than 800 tips from across Canada and the United States. None have been confirmed.

       Contact Cpl. Mike MacDonald of the Kitimat RCMP at 250-632-7111. There is a $17,500 reward for information leading to Vermette's arrest.

Rick Vallée

AT 8:30 on a quiet Wednesday morning, July 28, 1993, 31-year-old Lee Carter climbed into his white 1977 Porsche to run some errands. No one was stirring around the small trailer where he lived behind the local bowling alley near Champlain, N.Y., less than a kilometre from the Canadian border.

       As Carter turned the ignition, a massive explosion shattered the calm. When firefighters and police arrived on the scene, they found Carter's right leg three vehicles away, under another car. He had literally been blown apart.

       Carter had been helping law enforcement on both sides of the border to nail a cocaine-smuggling enterprise. Wanted for his murder is Rick Vallée, a Canadian-born demolitions expert whom prosecutors charge was the mastermind behind the smuggling and a force in Quebec's Hells Angels.

       Three months earlier, Carter had been tending bar at the bowling alley in Champlain when a group of volunteer firefighters from Quebec came in, ostensibly to play and enjoy an evening out. One of the men asked Carter if he was willing to make a little extra cash. All he had to do was transport cocaine from New York to Montreal. Carter knew the danger involved. He accepted the man's offer but contacted state police about becoming an informant. As a result of Carter's co-operation with authorities, two arrests were made and 57 kilos of cocaine were seized in New York.

       Then Carter was put in touch with Quebec provincial police, who arranged an assignment for him that would lead to two more arrests as well as the investigation of Rick Vallée.

       Carter was due to testify against Vallée in the drug-trafficking case in Canadian courts when he was killed. The case had to be dropped.

       But Vallée was taken into custody to await extradition to the U.S. for Carter's murder. In the spring of 1997, Vallée was assaulted in a prison fracas and his jaw was broken. For the next few months, he was transported back and forth between prison and St. Luc Hospital in downtown Montreal for treatment.

       On the day of his last treatment, Vallée overpowered his two guards and, with the help of at least two armed accomplices, fled on motorcycles.

       Vallée is wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service, the RCMP and the Sûreté du Québec.

       Contact the U.S. Marshals at 202-307-9128; Staff Sgt. Jean-Pierre Lévesque of the RCMP at 613-993-8338; or Captain Lou Babaria of the New York State Police at 518-563-3761.

William Bradford Bishop, Jr.

ON VACATION in Europe, a woman from Bethesda, Md., was waiting on the platform of the railway station in Basel, Switzerland. A well-groomed man in the train opposite opened a window on his car. The woman had a sudden shock of recognition. "I know that face," she said to herself. But before she could alert anyone, the train pulled out of the station on that day in September 1994. He was her former neighbour -- and a fugitive from an arrest warrant for murder.

       William Bradford Bishop, Jr., had been a winner all his life, a top student and quarterback in high school, educated at an Ivy League college. Failure was unheard of -- but that was what he faced in early March 1976. The hard-driving, ambitious U.S. State Department diplomat had worked tirelessly in hopes of being elevated in the foreign affairs bureaucracy. Then he learned he'd been passed over for promotion. One day soon after, he complained of feeling sick and left his office.

       On March 8, when a puzzled neighbour wondered about the family's absence, Montgomery County police officers visited the Bishops' colonial-style Bethesda home. The front door wasn't locked. In the foyer, study and bedrooms, the walls and carpets were spattered with blood.

       Within hours investigators were reading reports about five badly charred bodies discovered in a shallow grave in a North Carolina park. Each had suffered multiple blows to the head with a blunt instrument. Nearby was a long-handled shovel bearing a label from a Bethesda hardware store.

       Dental records identified the bodies as Bishop's wife, Annette, his mother, Lobelia, and his three sons: 14-year-old William, ten-year-old Brenton and five-year-old Geoffrey. Pathologists reported that the three boys were killed with a sledgehammer, placed in a shallow grave and set ablaze in their pyjamas.

       A grand jury indicted Bishop on multiple murder counts. With a diplomatic passport, however, he had a two-week head start. The suspect's motive is a mystery, but he'd been treated by a psychiatrist and was reportedly dependent on an antidepressant.

       Now 63, Bishop has been allegedly sighted numerous times: in Belgium, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and, most recently, Switzerland. Authorities are convinced that he won't elude justice forever. "The world is a much smaller place now," says Deputy Sheriff Robert L. Keefer, who has worked the case for more than ten years. "We'll catch up with him."

Niels Christian Nielsen

THE NIGHT sky seemed to sprout parachutes as 77 heavy wooden crates slowly descended over a village near Purulia, northwest of Calcutta, India. Local farmers were roused from their sleep as the crates landed in their fields with resounding thumps.

       But the transport plane that dumped them had veered from its designated course to make the drops. When the plane entered Indian air space again a few days later, it had to land at the international airport in Bombay.

       One of the passengers exited the plane, saying he wanted to pay the aircraft's airport tax at the terminal. The thin, sunken-cheeked man left a New Zealand passport behind and caught a ride to the terminal. It was the last anyone saw of him.

       The passport was a fake. The man who disappeared on that night in December 1995 was a notorious international criminal and a master of escape, Niels Christian Nielsen.

       He had given police the slip for years. Once, arrested for robbing a security van, Nielsen had promised to show where the loot was hidden. Police removed his shoes to prevent escape. A barefoot Nielsen directed detectives through woodlands in suburban Copenhagen. Suddenly he pushed his nearest escort to the ground and disappeared into the underbrush.

       Another time he staged an armed robbery on a jeweller in Göteborg, Sweden, escaping with some $300,000 worth of loot. Detectives traced the gang's getaway car to Nielsen, who had rented it with a false British passport.

       One of his accomplices in that crime was arrested and told police a troubling story. He said they committed the robberies on behalf of Ananda Marga (The Path of Bliss), an Indian religious cult with around 250,000 followers in more than 150 countries including Canada. Terrorists claiming to be adherents of the cult have been linked to attacks and bombings around the world in the 1970s and early '80s. (Ananda Marga denies that the attacks were carried out on its behalf and says it does not condone violence.)

       The manhunt for Nielsen has become more intensive since the crates dropped from the Indian sky. Inside were 300 Bulgarian-made AK-47 assault rifles, sniper rifles and 9-mm pistols, along with ten rocket launchers, 100 antitank grenades and hand grenades.

       Some believe the arms were intended for the Ananda Marga, whose headquarters are near the drop zone. (The cult denies this.)

       Law enforcement authorities say that Nielsen travels easily throughout the world using more than 40 different identities. Interpol sources allege that he has been involved in smuggling operations for drugs, guns and gold in Asia and Africa, as well as money laundering in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America.

Agustín Vásquez Mendoza

SPECIAL agent Michael Pelonero of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency sat waiting in a pickup truck, engine running. His partner, Richard Fass, had just entered a shabby auto-repair shop in a Glendale, Ariz., industrial park with two informants.

       They were expecting to buy ten kilos of methamphetamine from a group of Mexican drug dealers led by Agustín Vásquez Mendoza. Once the exchange was made, Fass was to signal Pelonero and 13 other waiting DEA agents.

       But something went wrong. Minutes after Fass entered the building, Pelonero saw two of the dealers sprint out, carrying guns.

       "Bandits fleeing the scene," Pelonero barked into his radio. "Both are armed!"

       One leaped into a car and tore out of a parking lot towards him; the other took off on foot. Pelonero attempted to block the car with his truck, but the car jumped the curb and sped off. Seconds later the two informants charged out as well.

       Gun drawn, Pelonero entered the repair shop. After a quick search, he discovered Fass, lying dead in a pool of blood. He had been shot in the head and chest.

       According to subsequent trial testimony, it turned out that the "dealers" had no intention of selling drugs. They merely wanted to steal the cash. The moment Fass and the two others entered the shop, they were forced facedown on the floor at gunpoint.

       But when the bandits tried to handcuff the three, Fass pulled his gun, rolled over and got off one shot before he was slain in a hail of gun-fire. Panicked, the bandits fled. Fass saved the informants' lives.

       Juan Vásquez Rubio and Rafael Rubio Méndez were later arrested and convicted of first-degree murder. Their plan, a co-conspirator told law enforcers, was facilitated by Vásquez Mendoza, who provided the guns and the handcuffs. Cell-phone records indicate that Vásquez Mendoza was apparently in the vicinity of the showdown when police began swarming the scene.

       Little is known about Agustín Vásquez Mendoza. But law enforcement authorities have tracked him for years and are pursuing his possible involvement with other crimes in Washington, Oregon and California.

       Richard Fass left behind a wife, Theresa, and four children. He also left behind a partner, Michael Pelonero, who is still haunted by the loss of his fellow officer, a friend who bled to death on a grimy shop floor. And the murder is still open because suspect Vásquez Mendoza remains free. The United States is offering $2.2 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

The Bobst Bomber

SHORTLY before 4 p.m. on August 27, 1998, in the quiet town of Prilly, Switzerland, the mail room of the Bobst Company delivered a small package marked for personal attention to sales director Philippe de Preux. "This came for you," his secretary said, handing him the cube-shaped box.

       De Preux noticed a U. S. Customs sticker on the wrapping paper. "It's probably a present from an American colleague," he replied. De Preux had just returned from visiting the U.S. subsidiaries of the international packaging manufacturer.

       Inside, something was gift wrapped in colourful paper. As de Preux tore into the package, an explosion ripped through the room.

       Swiss police estimate that the mail bomb de Preux opened contained about 100 grams of TNT, making it more powerful than some grenades. "It was designed to kill," says Yves Paudex, the lead Swiss investigator.

       De Preux and his secretary survived but suffered horrific shrapnel injuries. Surgeons had to amputate part of de Preux's left hand, including all his fingers. His secretary lost two fingers from her left hand. Both sustained serious flesh wounds to the face and chest.

       Such a vicious, premeditated attack was unheard of in Switzerland, and there appeared to be no suspect or motive. De Preux was unable to offer the Swiss police any leads. Detectives, though, got a break. The postmark, found intact, indicated the bomb was mailed from Geneva's Cornavin post office. Cornavin's interior was under digital-video surveillance.

       Replaying the tapes, police spotted a man who appeared to be in his 30s, five feet nine inches tall, with dark, close-cropped hair. He put his open shoulder bag in front of a postal worker and, over the counter, handed her the package with the bomb inside for mailing. Within two minutes he was gone.

       Swiss police found no one who resembled the man on the videotape, and there are no similar cases on file. They tried to identify an unusual white logo on the man's T-shirt, but none of more than 200 manufacturers contacted recognized the design.

       Swiss officials are stymied. Bobst has offered a reward of 50,000 Swiss francs, yet no one has come forward with information. "Somebody somewhere must recognize this man," investigator Paudex says hopefully.

Antonio Anglés

ONE OF nine children born to a family in São Paulo, Brazil, Antonio Anglés eventually moved with them to Catarroja, a small town near Valencia, Spain. Later he kidnapped a woman who had crossed him, beat her severely and chained her to a post for one week, threatening to disfigure her with a knife. She was eventually rescued by police; Anglés was apprehended and sentenced to eight years. After two years Anglés received a six-day permiso, temporary freedom, for good conduct in prison. He never returned.

       A few months later, on the evening of November 13, 1992, three young teenagers set off for a discotheque near their small town of Alcácer, just outside of Valencia. It was less than three kilometres away, and in this rural Spanish community, hitchhiking was considered a safe way to travel. But Miriam García Iborra, 14, Desiré Hernández Folch, 14, and Antonia Gómez Rodríguez, 15, never arrived.

       Seventy-five days later their bodies were found in a shallow grave in rugged hill country some 60 kilometres away. Physical clues led police to the house of the Anglés family. They arrested Miguel Ricart, who implicated the fugitive Antonio.

       Ricart confessed that they had picked up the girls and taken them to a hideout. They were tied down and raped repeatedly. Later, Ricart said, Anglés untied them and told them to get dressed. Then he shot each one in the head.

       According to police, upon hearing on the radio that the girls' bodies had been found, Anglés coolly spent an hour at a hairdresser's having his hair dyed brown. Then he reportedly stole his mother's life savings and slipped through a police dragnet, hijacking two cars in quick succession.

       Three months later a stowaway resembling Anglés was seized by sailors en route from Portugal to Ireland. The crewmen locked him in an empty cabin. But when the boat docked, the cabin's porthole was open. The man had vanished.

       Despite an intensive search, there are no leads. "The day they catch him I will drink a toast to my daughter in heaven," said Fernando García, one grieving father. "I have sworn on the Bible to get justice."

Fugitive Grant Warren Beaucage was captured in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday, September 15, 1999 after he was recognized by a Reader's Digest reader who saw his picture in "World's Most Wanted."