The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 2000s is a list, maintained for a sixth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. At any given time, the FBI is actively searching for 12,000 fugitives. During the 2000s, 36 new fugitives were added to the list. By the close of the decade a total of 494 fugitives had been listed on the Top Ten list, of whom 463 have been captured or located.
FBI headlines in the 2000s The 2000s (decade) started out badly for the FBI's much needed attempts to upgrade technology. First, the "Trilogy" project went far over the $380 million budget, and behind its three-year schedule. Then, Virtual Case File (VCF) planned for completion in 2003, was officially abandoned in 2005, after more than $100 million spent. A new, more ambitious investigation software project, Sentinel, was introduced in 2005 as a replacement for the failed VCF system.
In 2001, Robert Hanssen, high within the Bureau, was caught selling information to the Russians, and Bureau security practices came into question.
In 2002 the FBI's official top priority became counter-terrorism, followed second by counterintelligence. The USA PATRIOT Act granted the FBI increased monitoring powers.
The 9/11 Commission in 2004 blamed the FBI in part for not pursuing intelligence reports which could have prevented the September 11, 2001 attacks. In consequence, the Bureau came under oversight by the new Director of National Intelligence.
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 2000s The FBI in the past has identified individuals by the sequence number in which each individual has appeared on the list. Some individuals have even appeared twice, and often a sequence number was permanently assigned to an individual suspect who was soon caught, captured, or simply removed, before his or her appearance could be published on the publicly released list. In those cases, the public would see only gaps in the number sequence reported by the FBI. For convenient reference, the wanted suspect's sequence number and date of entry on the FBI list appear below, whenever possible.
The following fugitives made up the top Ten list to begin the 2000s: Name Sequence NumberDate of Entry NotesDonald Eugene Webb#3751981Removed from the list on March 31, 2007. On July 14, 2017, remains found at the Dartmouth home of Webb's wife were identified as belonging to Webb. Investigators stated that Webb had died in 1999.Victoria Warren, Remains found in Dartmouth yard are those of fugitive wanted for killing police chief, The Associated Press via WHDH News, July 14, 2017Victor Manuel Gerena#3861984Still at large.Is wanted in connection with the 1983 armed robbery of approximately $7 million from a security company in Connecticut. He was removed from the list on December 15, 2016.Arthur Lee Washington Jr.#4271989Removed from the list in December 2000 for no longer meeting the list criteria.Agustín Vásquez Mendoza#4451996CapturedVásquez was wanted in the murder of an undercover DEA special agent in Glendale, Arizona on June 30, 1994, during an undercover drug transaction, kidnapping, attempted armed robbery and assault in a drug conspiracy.He was arrested in Mexico July 9, 2000.Glen Stewart Godwin#4471996Still at large.Godwin is being sought for his 1987 escape from Folsom State Prison in California, where he was serving a lengthy sentence for murder. Later he escaped from Mexican prison September 1991 after murdering a prison inmate in April 1991. As of May 19, 2016, he was no longer on the list.Ramon Eduardo Arellano-Felix#4511997KilledHe was wanted in ordering a hit which resulted in the mass murder of 19 people in Ensenada September 17, 1998; charged in a sealed indictment in United States District Court for the Southern District of California, with Conspiracy to Import Cocaine and Marijuana in drug trafficking; one of the leaders of the Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO), which is also known as the Tijuana Cartel.He was killed in a gun battle with police at Mazatlán February 10, 2002.Eric Robert Rudolph#4541998CapturedRudolph was wanted in a series of southeastern U.S. bombings, including a bombing murder at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta on July 27, 1996.Rudolph was arrested in Murphy, North Carolina on May 31, 2003.James Charles Kopp#4551999CapturedHe was wanted for the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian at his home in Amherst, New York, October 23, 1998 and for non-fatal shootings of three doctors in Canada in 1994, 1995 and 1997.Kopp was arrested in Dinan, Brittany, France, March 30, 2001, and is in U.S. custody.Osama bin Laden#4561999KilledOsama bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaeda and was wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States embassies, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda is alleged to be responsible for the October 12, 2000, attack on the off the coast of Yemen.Osama bin Laden was killed during Operation Neptune Spear in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.James J. Bulger#4581999CapturedBulger was wanted for his role in 18 murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts area.He was arrested June 22, 2011, in Santa Monica, California.
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives added during the 2000s The list of the most wanted fugitives listed during the 2000s fluctuated throughout the decade. As before, spots on the list were occupied by fugitives who had been listed in prior years, and still remained at large. The list includes (in FBI list appearance sequence order):
2000 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time Listed Jesse James Caston#459August 19, 2000Four months Jesse James Caston was wanted for the shooting death of two distant relatives, a father and son, on a Mississippi River levee. A federal arrest warrant was issued in United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, on April 14, 2000, and charged him with Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution. Caston hitchhiked a ride in a blue van and was last seen at a truck stop in Longview, Texas, on April 13, 2000. He was then wanted for kidnapping and forcing a man to drive them both to Marshall, Texas, where the vehicle broke down on April 13, 2000. A state warrant was issued on April 12, 2000, in the Parish of East Carroll, Louisiana with charges of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder; attempted murder and ambush of two police officers in Lake Providence, Louisiana – wounding one by three shotgun blasts. Caston was wanted for murder of his wife and her female friend Sharon McIntyre, in their homes April 10, 2000.
Caston was featured on the America's Most Wanted television program on August 19, 2000. He was spotted at a gas station at the corner of Brookhurst and Hazard in Westminster, California driving a 1980s model pickup truck that was pulling a cement pumper in July, 2000. He surrendered to authorities after a standoff at Lake Providence, Louisiana December 20, 2000. Eric Franklin Rosser#460December 27, 2000Eight months Eric Franklin Rosser was wanted for his involvement in a number of child pornography offenses, including a videotape, that he recorded in Thailand, and was distributed to a Bloomington, Indiana resident. He was arrested at a business in Bangkok, Thailand on August 21, 2001, for child pornography.
2001 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time Listed Aurlieas Dame McClarty#461February 5, 2001Nine days Aurlieas Dame McClarty was wanted for bank robbery of the Citizens National Bank in Laurel, Maryland on October 4, 2000. He was wanted on local charges for double homicide, both victims shot in the head, of two employees of a truck rental dealership in Orlando, Florida on July 18, 2000, during an armed robbery which netted only $200. McClarty was also wanted by Indiana state authorities for criminal deception and by the United States Secret Service, in Orlando, Florida for counterfeiting. He was captured without incident at a residence in Irmo, South Carolina on February 14, 2001. He was located one day before the February 15, 2001 formal announcement placing him on the Top Ten list, effective as of February 5, 2001. Hopeton Eric Brown#462March 17, 2001Three years Hopeton Eric Brown was wanted for murder and attempted murder at an apartment in Saint Paul, Minnesota on March 21, 1997, where he and drug associates severely beat and shot a man to death in a drug dispute, and then shot the victim's female friend several times, including once in the head. He was indicted March 25, 1999 along with Mosiah Omar Wright by a Federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, at Minneapolis, Minnesota for the drug related crimes. Additionally, he was arrested in London, England in June 2000, for possession of crack cocaine, using the alias name Simon Plested, and was later released; believed by Jamaican authorities to have been in a gang of four other armed men who shot and killed a man and shot and wounded two other men in Barrett Town; was wanted for two murders in Jamaica in January 2001, the second having been killed while in his home, allegedly by a stray bullet fired by Brown; alleged to have killed one individual for leaning on his car on January 14, 2001, in Montego Bay. On March 21, 2004, Brown was killed during a gunfight with Jamaican law enforcement authorities in Barrett Town, Montego Bay, Jamaica. Maghfoor Mansoor#463May 25, 2001Captured 12 days before official list publication Maghfoor Mansoor was charged by the Las Vegas Justice Court December 15, 2000 with sexual assault with a deadly weapon and first degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon in a case centering on a 17-year-old female victim in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had been previously convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department requested the assistance of the FBI and obtained an Unlawful Flight warrant January 2, 2001.
Mansoor headed east from Las Vegas and while a fugitive he assaulted a law enforcement officer and committed an armed carjacking in New Orleans, Louisiana which led to the death of a state highway worker whom he struck with the vehicle while fleeing. He then headed northeast from New Orleans and committed an armed carjacking, and numerous armed robberies/burglaries inside several casino/hotel rooms while in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to include holding a retired New Jersey State Trooper and his wife at gunpoint during a foiled room robbery attempt. Additionally he committed an armed robbery of a jewelry store located inside the Trump Taj Mahal. He fled Atlantic City by carjacking a cab at gunpoint, forced the cab driver to take him to New York City and then robbed him before exiting the cab.