A fugitive who was featured on last week’s season finale of Fox’s “America Most Wanted” was arrested Monday, marking the fourth person to be arrested after their case appeared on the five-episode revival, TheWrap has learned exclusively.
Maurice Nesbitt, who was found guilty of felony murder in 2017, was arrested without incident by the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, one week after his case was covered by “AMW” revival host Elizabeth Vargas and her team on TV. Readers can see a clip from that segment via the video above.
Multiple tips about Nesbitt were called in to a few different tip lines in Alabama ahead of his arrest on Monday, including the tip lines for “In Pursuit with John Walsh,” Crime Stoppers and “AMW,” two individuals with knowledge tell TheWrap. Per once source, the U.S. Marshals Service says the timing of all of the Nesbitt tips were too coincidental to not have some attribution to the Fox series featuring the case a week ago.
Here’s the official description of Nesbitt’s case, per Fox, which is the most recent to be featured on “America’s Most Wanted” ahead of an arrest:
Maurice Nesbitt violently abused Rashawn Jackson over the course of their six-year relationship, eventually leading to her attempting to sever ties with him. Nesbitt entered the apartment she was sharing with her mother and sister late at night, and he and Rashawn spent about 10 minutes smoking cigarettes and drinking sodas in her bedroom before he shot and killed her. Evidence suggests Rashawn was not anticipating being shot as there were no signs or sounds of an argument. Nesbitt fled the scene and was eventually arrested for murder on July 23, 2014. Authorities say that Nesbitt’s lawyer informed the judge that he had cancer and needed to be out on bond to receive treatment. He was released with an ankle monitor and then fled before final arguments in his trial, where he was convicted of felony murder.
Based on the original series hosted by John Walsh, which ran on Fox from 1988-2011 and on Lifetime from 2011-2012, Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” revival is hosted by Vargas and presents the cases of some of the country’s most dangerous fugitives.
In an interview with TheWrap last month, Vargas said the show employs phone banks of law enforcement officials to monitor tips received through the tip line and on social media.
“In the 10 years since ‘America’s Most Wanted’ went off the air, there’s been an explosion in technology,” she said. “People now have an HD camera in their pocket in the form of their phone. And they can instantly take pictures and videos and text us and reach us on social media platforms. It’s just an unbelievable interconnectedness.”
If you have information about the cases shown on “America’s Most Wanted,” you can submit your tips in by either calling 1-833-3-AMW-TIPS or going to AMWTIPS.com.
There’s no word yet on a second season for Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” revival, but all five episodes of the first season are available for streaming now on Tubi.