New DNA evidence has revealed that a Nabraska teenager, who fatally shot his parents in the 1950s then escaped from prison, lived out his life in Australia as a successful businessman, devoted husband and doting father whose family only learned of his dark past after his death.
Leslie Arnold, then 16, killed his parents after a dispute over the use of the family car, then buried their bodies in the backyard of their Omaha home. He attended school for more than a week as though nothing had happened.
Less than a decade later, he broke out of the Nebraska State Penitentiary. With baffled law enforcement officials on his trail, he surreptitiously carved out a new life as John Damon in Australia.
In 2022, more than a decade after his death, his son submitted his DNA to a public database and learned the staggering truth.
"It was just absolutely shocking," said Arnold's son, "It still doesn’t feel real."
Arnold died on Aug. 6, 2010, after battling a clotting condition for several years, but he died in freedom.
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