Billy Ray Waldon

Billy Ray Waldon (born January 3, 1952), also known as Billy Joe Waldon or Nvwtohiyada Idehesdi Sequoyah (Cherokee: ᏅᏙᎯᏯᏓ ᎢᏕᎮᏍᏗ ᏎᏉᏯ, Nvdohiyada Idehesdi Sequoya), is an American former fugitive, American Indian Movement activist, and Esperantist who in 1986, became the 399th fugitive listed by the FBI on the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List.

Waldon was convicted of the murders of three people during a crime spree in 1985.

The crime spree which Waldon was convicted of began in Tulsa, Oklahoma on October 10, 1985, when a man was robbed and wounded.

On November 15, a 28-year-old woman was shot in the head.

However, the bullet grazed her skull and she survived.

Two days later, on November 17, a woman was robbed at gunpoint and shot.

The woman died of her injuries two days later.

On November 23, two people were shot and wounded while getting out of their car.

Two weeks later, the San Diego, California home of 43-year-old Dawn Ellerman was broken into.

Ellermann was fatally shot in the neck.

Ellerman's 13-year-old daughter died of smoke inhalation while trying to rescue her mother from the house, which had been set on fire.

On December 19, a man later identified as Waldon was spotted fleeing a robbery in his car by police, who soon gave chase.

Waldon managed to evade the police and abandoned the car, soon after running to the residence of 59-year-old Gordon Wells, who was shot and killed.

Later, Wells' neighbor was shot and wounded, and his car was stolen.

Waldon was additionally charged in Oklahoma with first-degree murder in the November 17, 1985 shooting in Tulsa, as well as three counts of attempted murder, two counts of armed robbery, and two counts of attempted robbery.

A native of Oklahoma, Waldon was apprehended on June 16, 1986 after San Diego, California police attempted to pull him over for a routine traffic citation.

The car was found abandoned in late January 1986.

A ballistics test linked the San Diego crimes to the Oklahoma crimes, and a federal arrest warrant for Waldon was issued soon after.

The federal arrest warrant charged Waldon with unlawful interstate flight to avoid prosecution for murder, attempted murder, robbery, burglary, rape and arson.

According to the FBI, Waldon had held a variety of different jobs and had served in the U.S. Navy for ten years, where he had been trained in deep sea diving.

Waldon was additionally noted to speak and understand several different languages, including French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Esperanto.

Waldon was reported to be one-fourth Cherokee Indian and to have an interest in Cherokee history and culture.

On April 23, 1986, Waldon became the 399th fugitive to be listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive's list.

In June 1986, Daniel Roman discovered that his 1965 Mustang was missing.

Later that day, a driver in a car matching the description of Roman’s attempted to speed away from police and fled on foot when they tried to stop him for a broken tail light.

Police apprehended and arrested the man, who gave his name as “Stephen Midas” but was later identified as Waldon through a fingerprint match.

In California, Waldon faced charges on three counts of murder as well as 19 other counts, including rape, armed robbery, and arson.

Waldon was arraigned on June 20, 1986, and plead not guilty to the charges.

His bail was set at $2 million.

In July 1986, while in custody at the San Diego County Jail, Waldon was beaten unconscious by three other inmates after he refused their request to kill another inmate.

Waldon attempted to escape from his jail cell on September 21, 1986 by attempting to chip away at the cell's wall using a metal bar.

Prior to a hearing to determine whether or not Waldon was mentally competent to stand trial, Jack Levitt, the judge who was set to preside over the hearing, was challenged by Waldon's attorney Charles Khoury Jr., who alleged him to be unfair.

Levitt would be removed from presiding over Waldon's criminal trial in October 1987, but continued to preside over Waldon's mental competency hearing.

The hearing began on August 18, 1987.

Waldon remained completely silent during proceedings and refused to answer any questions.

On September 21, 1987, Waldon was judged competent to be criminally tried.

Waldon's criminal trial was delayed by Judge Levitt's removal, and was further delayed by his insistence that he represent himself.

After Waldon's judgement that he was competent to stand trial, his criminal trial began in 1991.

In 1992, Waldon was convicted of three counts of murder and sentenced to death in California.

In 2023, Waldon's convictions were overturned by the California Supreme Court on grounds that he was denied representation by competent counsel.