Today, FBI Sacramento Field Office Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel marks the FBI’s commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. “The FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive’s List has helped the media and public be informed and engaged in the effort to locate and apprehend some of our nation’s most dangerous criminals,” said Patel. “We are grateful to all who have provided tips. Their commitment to justice and community safety is to be commended.”

The FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives initiative is designed to publicize particularly dangerous fugitives and enlist the public to assist the FBI in locating them. It is an extremely important law enforcement tool, and media and public involvement is crucial to its success. At a minimum, a reward of up to $250,000 is offered by the FBI for information that leads directly to the arrest of a Ten Most Wanted Fugitive.

The Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list was borne from a newspaper story in 1949. A reporter for the International News Service asked the FBI for the names and descriptions of the “toughest guys” the FBI would like to capture. The story generated so much positive publicity that on March 14, 1950, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover implemented the “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” program. Since the list’s inception, 496 individuals wanted by the FBI have been apprehended or located.

Since March 14, 1950, eighteen fugitives from the 34-county region the FBI Sacramento Field Office serves have been added to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, including escaped federal prisoners, burglars, murderers, and bank robbers.

• Howard Jay Barnard was the first fugitive from the region to be added to the list on April 12, 1963. The escapee was apprehended in Sacramento on April 6, 1964, when fleeing a robbery.
• Glen Stewart Godwin, an escapee, was added to the list on December 7, 1996. He was removed from the list due to the fact he no longer met with FBI Top Ten Fugitives list criteria but remains wanted by the FBI.
• Nikolay Soltys, who was wanted for fleeing to avoid prosecution for the murder of six of his family members in Sacramento, was the last fugitive placed on the list on August 23, 2001. He was apprehended in Citrus Heights on August 30, 2001.

Information about the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list can be found on the www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten; @FBIMostWanted on X, Facebook and Instagram; the FBI’s YouTube page; on the FBI Wanted mobile app (available for download on Apple and Android devices); and featured on episodes of Inside the FBI podcast series. As technology continues to advance and innovative applications surface, the FBI will continue to utilize all the tools available to publicize fugitives and engage the public in helping to locate them.