Summary
While this is a mystery, Unsolved Mysteries season 2, episode 3 presents stupidity rather than a strange event — fugitive Lester Eubanks was given a golden opportunity and he took it.
This recap of Netflix series Unsolved Mysteries season 2, episode 3, “Death Row Fugitive” contains information regarding missing fugitive Lester Eubanks.
We recapped every episode — check out the archive.
The opening
Episode 3 begins with the family of a murder victim wanting Lester Eubanks caught — he’s an escaped death row prison. We are in Mansfield, Ohio. Myrtle Carter, Mary Ellen’s sister, talks of how Mansfield was a small town that was safe.
The night she went to the laundromat
“Death Row Fugitive” shows Mary Ellen Deener described as a typical young girl. She went to a laundromat in 1965 with her sister to dry some clothes. Mary went missing briefly but moments later, she had been shot. They traced the gun back to Lester Eubanks. The family describe Lester as a weird individual when he walked the neighbourhood. He always had nunchucks on him. The police labelled him as a sexual predator; at the time of the homicide, he was on a bail bond for a rape attempt.
He went back and killed her
When the police arrested Lester Eubanks, he confessed immediately. He tells the police he went home, got changed to go to a nightclub. Lester walked back to the scene and saw the young girl that he had just shot writhing in pain; he finished her with a brick. Lester Eubanks is a monster.
“Death Row Fugitive” shows how this man showed no guilt for what he did — he was a pure, cold-blooded murderer; an evil man.
An incentive programme
Lester became an artist on death row. His death sentence was pushed back and back and then the death sentence was abolished in the state. Lester’s death sentence reverted to a life sentence. Episode 3 shows how Lester was a smooth talker and formed a relationship with the guards. Lester was placed in a trustee honour programme which allowed him to leave prison and carry out tasks. The programme was designed to incentivise good behaviour; he was given many awards.
Lester went shopping and never returned
On one occasion, Lester was allowed to go to the mall to shop for Christmas with other convicts on their own but was asked to return to a particular place at a specific time. Lester Eubanks did not return. When they investigated his visitations, they were alarmed. He had regular visits so that means it was premeditated.
Let’s just have this information sink in for a second; a prison allowed inmates to go shopping — there’s no mystery here, it’s just stupidity. The mystery is solved — they let a sexual predator and murderer out shopping and were in shock that he did not return.
No federal warrant
Decades letter, former investigators realised that his federal warrant was removed from the system — more incompetence! So if he was found, he would have been let go. “Death Row Fugitive” hints at a clerical error. The investigators decided to expose him on America’s Most Wanted. They got a tip to meet Kay Banks; he lived with her in LA briefly. Kay married Darrel Banks — she’s widowed as Darrel was shot and killed. Kay became a pen pal to Lester.
The case went cold
When Lester Eubanks headed to California on the bus, the police stopped the bus because they were looking for illegal fruit. Kay found Lester intimidating so she lied and told him the FBI called about him. Lester immediately fled her house. In 1996, the investigators felt the case went cold.
The fact is, this is the authorities’ fault and with that, it should be their daily responsibility to fix it.
The ending
The investigators spoke to Lester’s father and they strongly suspected that he knew where he was. They subpoenaed the father’s phone records. There were many calls to a Centre of Troubled Youths. There was a black male that fitted the description who worked there but they had already left.
While this is a mystery, Unsolved Mysteries season 2, episode 3 presents stupidity rather than a strange event — fugitive Lester Eubanks was given a golden opportunity and he took it.
