| On February 5, 1962, Linaweaver was arrested
in Floydada, Texas where he was living until two
local men recognized him from a 10 Most Wanted
Flyer at the post office. He was wanted for burglary
and armed escape from a jail in Salina, Kansas. After
breaking out of the jail and brutally
beating two deputies, Linaweaver assumed the alias John
Edward Thomas. He found work with a crew of migrant farm
laborers following the harvest south from Canada,
through Nevada and eventually
settled near Floydada, in the South Plains
community.
Linaweaver married a waitress he met at one
of the cafe's in Floydada. At the time of his
arrest he was working for local farmer John Key
West according to local resident Keith Stansell.
He made many friends during the time
he spent in the small west Texas community.
Several testified at his sentencing hearing and
asked that the man they knew as John Edward
Thomas be paroled to their custody so that he
could continue to the quiet life he had begun
there with his new wife.
John K. West, Linaweaver's employer of 13
months testified that he would rehire him if he
were paroled. "He was one of my top hands," He
ate dinner with my family every night until he
married. He had a good personality, and I like
him."
West told reporters with the Amarillo Daily
News, "Lineaweaver and his wife had moved to
Silverton shortly before his arrest and bought
the Y Cafe. " He was going to drive from
Silverton to the farm everyday. His wife was
going to operate the cafe in Silverton."
Local grocer Raymond Upton and Early Price, a
South Plains Texas farmer described Linaweaver
as " a nice quiet boy who would be welcomed back
into the community."
Linaweaver told District Judge L. A. McNalley
he was "a changed man. I never had friends like
this. It changed me entirely."
The judge denied the request for immediate
parole and sentenced Lineaweaver to fifteen
years in federal prison.
After his release, Linaweaver returned to
West Texas and according to all accounts, the man who was
once one of the FBI's most wanted led a quiet,
productive life near the area he had come to
love.
Sources:
Hutchinson News, April 7, 1962
Amarillo Daily News, Feb 6, 1962
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