Fugitive Doctor Ronald Fischer, Convicted of Rape in Absentia, Caught on Yacht in New York After 20 Years

Two decades, one alias, and a sailboat called The Silver Lining

Ronald L. Fischer, 70, spent more than 20 years running from a rape conviction. On Thursday, that run ended on the water.

U.S. Marshals, working with the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies, intercepted Fischer's 56-foot sailboat, The Silver Lining, at about 11:20 a.m. as it moved through the East River toward Long Island Sound, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. He was taken into custody without incident.

The boat was registered under the name Richard Graydon. Authorities say that alias was one of at least 17 Fischer used to stay hidden, according to Politicom. Investigators zeroed in on his location in New York only in the 48 hours before the arrest, the Marshals Service told the New York Times.

The 2003 assault and the 2005 disappearance

Fischer was a former anesthesiologist who headed the department at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and held a post as an assistant professor at Brown University, according to Politicom. In 2003, prosecutors say, he used personal ads and his professional credentials to bring a woman aboard his yacht at the time, the Lion King, docked at a marina in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He was accused of raping her there.

He went to trial in Newport in April 2005. Just days before closing arguments, he emailed his attorneys with the subject line "Goodbye," according to Politicom and Breitbart, both citing WPRI. In that email he wrote he believed the trial was "going very well" and expected acquittal, but that he had decided the risk of "extremely and unacceptably harsh penalties" wasn't worth staying for. He said he planned to leave the country to live in a place where he had "long been carefully planning a good, safe, secure and comfortable life."

He never came back. The jury convicted him anyway, in absentia, on a first-degree sexual assault charge. He was also hit with warrants for failure to appear and flight to avoid prosecution. He lost his medical license in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, according to Politicom, which also reported he had previously pleaded guilty to a similar assault charge in a separate case.

Manhunt, capture, and what comes next

Fischer's case was profiled multiple times on "America's Most Wanted," and he made Rhode Island's list of most-wanted fugitives, according to the National Enquirer. For most of the two decades that followed, his whereabouts were largely unknown to authorities, the New York Times reported.

"This arrest demonstrates that time does not erase accountability," said Wing Chau, U.S. Marshal for the District of Rhode Island, in a statement carried by both Breitbart and the National Enquirer. "For more than 20 years, Ronald Fischer believed he had successfully escaped justice. The men and women of the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force, together with our partners, remained committed to ensuring that day would eventually come."

Charles Calenda, First Assistant United States Attorney, put it more bluntly to WPRI, as cited by the National Enquirer: "You can run, but you cannot hide from justice. Ronald Fischer will now return to Rhode Island to face the consequences he sought to evade for more than 20 years."

Fischer appeared Friday in Manhattan Criminal Court, dressed in a light-blue shirt and gray khaki pants, according to the New York Times. He waived his right to a formal extradition hearing. He is set to be transported to Rhode Island by the end of July and will remain in custody in New York until then.

A prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney's office said investigators searched a residence tied to Fischer but declined to say where it was located, according to the New York Times. They reportedly found several books on how to evade law enforcement. The prosecutor also said Fischer had emailed neighbors asking whether he was being sought by police, an odd detail that suggests either paranoia or a slipping grip on how effectively he'd stayed hidden.

What's unresolved

Exactly where Fischer lived and how he supported himself during 20-plus years underground has not been fully disclosed by authorities. The Marshals Service has not detailed the full 48-hour investigation that pinpointed his location in New York, and it's not yet public how officials first picked up his trail after two decades of silence.

Fischer's victim, whose account of being raped in the bottom of the boat was described in earlier reporting cited by Politicom, is now expected to see the case she thought might never conclude move to sentencing once Fischer returns to Rhode Island. No sentencing date has been set, and that will depend on the extradition timeline now underway.