Canadians take up hunt for fugitive

The Canadian government has issued a nationwide warrant for the arrest of fugitive Frederick Russell, the former Washington State University student wanted on three counts of vehicular homicide, bail jumping and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution for a fatal 2001 car crash, a federal marshal said Friday.

“This is the first time the Eastern District (of the U.S. Marshals Service) has been able to get cooperation on this level,” U.S. Marshal Mike Kline said.

Russell, 25, is wanted for fleeing prosecution in a drunken driving case in which three WSU students were killed on July 4, 2001. He vanished in October 2001, three days before he was scheduled to go to trial in Whitman County Superior Court for those deaths as well as for the injuries suffered by three others in the crash.

The Marshals Service believes Russell is engaged in marijuana smuggling and is likely seeking refuge among drug traffickers, said Eric Marks, chief deputy U.S. marshal for the Eastern Washington district. Marks also confirmed that Russell is believed to be traveling between British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and Alaska.

“We believe he is familiar with drug trade at least, and may be engaged in it,” Marks said. As for the hunt for one of the region’s most-wanted fugitives, Marks said, “We are getting closer and are optimistic.”

In July, former University of West Florida criminal justice professor Bernadette Olson was sentenced to six months in federal prison and three years of supervised release for helping Russell flee to Canada. Olson pleaded guilty to a charge that she lied to federal investigators about helping Russell escape prosecution, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Olson drove Russell to Calgary, Alberta, on Oct. 23, 2001, while she was a graduate student at WSU.