William Leslie Arnold: The Teen Murderer That Escaped Jail and Reinvented Himself
In 1958, a teenage boy in Omaha, Nebraska, committed an unthinkable crime, fled justice, and somehow built a completely new life on the other side of the world. William Leslie Arnold’s story is the kind of thing you’d expect to see in a Hollywood film—complete with murder, a prison break, and a secret identity. But unlike a movie, this story came to light only after decades, thanks to the power of modern DNA technology.
Here’s how the son of an “orphan from Chicago” discovered his dad wasn’t quite who he thought he was.
A Teenage Rebellion That Escalated
Arnold’s story began like so many teenage dramas do—with a disagreement over a car. He was 16 years old in 1958 and wanted to borrow the family car to take his girlfriend to the movies. His parents, Bill and Opal Arnold, said no. Most teens would have sulked or maybe slammed a door. Arnold took it several steps further—he grabbed a gun and shot them both.
After killing his parents, he buried their bodies in the backyard and went on with his night, taking his girlfriend to a drive-in screening of The Undead. For two weeks, he carried on as though everything was normal, telling friends and neighbours that his parents had gone on a trip. But as the days passed, people started asking more questions. Eventually, Arnold cracked, confessed to the murders, and led police to the graves in the backyard.
It was a shocking crime, and the public struggled to understand how a seemingly average teenager could kill his own parents over something so trivial. In 1959, Arnold was sentenced to life in prison, but that was far from the end of his story.
Prison Life: Model Inmate or Mastermind?
Behind bars at the Nebraska State Penitentiary, Arnold didn’t fit the stereotype of a hardened criminal. He kept his head down, earned the trust of guards, and became a model inmate. He spent hours in the prison music room, honing his skills as a musician, and by all accounts, he was well-liked.
But Arnold wasn’t content to spend his life in prison. After eight years of good behaviour, he and another inmate, James Harding, came up with a plan to escape, by using masks to fool the guards who conducted daily head counts. In July 1967, the two scaled the prison walls under the cover of night and disappeared.
They split up soon after, parting ways in Chicago. Harding was caught not long after, but Arnold? He was gone, leaving no trace. Authorities assumed he must have died, given how impossible it seemed for someone to just disappear like that.
Starting Over as John Vincent Damon
Unbeknownst to the authorities, Arnold was very much alive—and crafting a new identity. As John Vincent Damon, he began working in a Chicago restaurant, where he met and married his first wife. He became a stepfather to her four children and was described as a loving and dependable figure in their lives.
Over time, Arnold moved to Australia, where he continued his transformation. He remarried, had children of his own, and settled into a quiet life as a salesman. He was known as a good provider and a dedicated father who loved music. No one in his Australian community suspected that the friendly man they knew as John had a dark secret buried in his past.
When Arnold passed away in 2010, his life as a fugitive seemed to have been erased entirely.
The DNA Discovery
For decades, Arnold’s escape was an unsolved mystery. Then, in 2020, a breakthrough came through a method no one in the 1960s could have imagined—genealogy DNA testing. Investigators collected a DNA sample from Arnold’s younger brother, hoping it might help solve the case. Around the same time, one of Arnold’s sons in Australia uploaded his DNA to a genealogy site, curious about his father’s roots.
“There’s no warning label on the DNA test kit telling you that you might not like what you find,” Arnold’s son told CNN. “But I don’t regret doing it, and I’m glad I now know the truth about my dad.”
The DNA match confirmed that John Vincent Damon and William Leslie Arnold were the same person. Decades after his escape, the truth about Arnold finally came to light.
Reconciling the Past
For Arnold’s Australian family, the revelation was a shock. The man they had known as a kind, loving father had once been a teenage killer who escaped from prison. But rather than focus on the crime, they chose to remember the man he became.
“Although it’s shocking to know that his life began with a terrible crime, his legacy is so much more than that,” Arnold’s son said. “I want him to be remembered for being a good father and provider to us, and instilling in me a passion for music, and a drive to always be the best person I can be.”
Even investigators were struck by how much Arnold had changed. “He seemed to have become the parent who he wanted to be, or the one he wished he had,” noted Deputy U.S. Marshal Matthew Westover, who worked on the case.
In the end, Arnold’s story reminds us of two things. First, the truth has a way of catching up with us, no matter how far we run or how much time passes. And second, people are rarely simple—they can be both deeply flawed and capable of profound transformation.