No Place to Hide : Fox’s ‘Most Wanted’ Show Puts Tube on the Trail of Fugitives

On March 20, fugitive Paul Mack was working as a chef in a popular Salt Lake City restaurant when he was profiled on Fox’s new, crime-fighting television show. Three days later, thanks to an anonymous tip from a viewer who saw the program, Mack was locked up in a California jail awaiting trial in connection with the 1977 murder of a Sacramento beauty queen.

Mack is one of five fugitives who have been caught with the help of “America’s Most Wanted,” which premiered Feb. 7. One of those five, wanted for six murders on the East Coast, was captured Saturday after a viewer reported sighting him in New York. A sixth fugitive turned himself in to police in Texas after he was profiled on the show.

“We’re adding millions of eyes and ears to the law enforcement efforts in this country,” says Thomas Herwitz, the Fox executive in charge of the program. “It’s true that we’re in the business of putting on shows that people want to watch, but we’re also providing the exposure that has proven the difference in catching several fugitives.”

“It’s television with a social purpose,” says John Walsh, the program’s host and the man whose search for his missing son prompted two NBC movies, “Adam” and “Adam: His Song Continues.” “It’s a way for the public to get involved, to get the violent criminals, without resorting to vigilantism,” he said.

Initially, Walsh could solicit the help of viewers in only the seven cities where Fox owns TV stations: New York, Washington, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Boston and Los Angeles (KTTV Channel 11). But the ratings have been so good that “America’s Most Wanted” was moved into the Fox network lineup last weekend, where it can be seen on 118 stations (Sundays at 8 p.m.). Now, the program’s producers and federal law enforcement agents say, the nation’s most wanted criminals have fewer places to hide.

The weekly series is part action adventure crime show, part live newscast and part telethon. Producers travel to the crime scenes to re-create the heinous acts with actors standing in for criminals and victims. The result is not exactly “Miami Vice,” but it is stylized and graphic enough to provoke armchair G-men watching at home to action. Guns are shot at the camera; a knife depicting the murder of a victim who was stabbed 28 times flashes in and out of the screen.

“Our field producers do bring back some fairly gory things,” says Michael Linder, the show’s executive producer, “but we are continually trying to soften the impact of the violence. I don’t want to brutalize the audience. Our mission would be short-lived if the audience became numbed to violence and lost interest in the show.”

Sitting on a bright red set at WTTG-TV in Washington, Walsh follows up the theatrical re-creations with descriptions and mug shots of the suspects wanted by authorities and provides detailed information about their habits. “He is obsessed with fresh breath,” Walsh said about Paul Mack. “He’s always chewing Certs.”

Then, with an almost evangelical urgency in his voice, Walsh pleads with his viewers to call the show’s 800 number if they have any information that might lead to the suspect’s apprehension. FBI agents and police officers from the jurisdiction in which the crime was committed stand by in the studio to act on any reliable tips.

So far “America’s Most Wanted” has been a hit. Besides smoking out the six fugitives, it has been the No. 1-rated program in its time slot in several of the seven markets in which it appeared initially.

But while Fox keeps a close watch on the ratings, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies that have cooperated with the company are interested only in how many bad guys the show helps put behind bars.

“The FBI is not in the entertainment business,” says Wiley Thompson, an FBI spokesman. “Our cooperation is based on the fact that we would like to solicit citizen cooperation in trying to apprehend fugitives. Thus far, we are very pleased with the program and the results.”

Thompson says that the FBI, which supplies the show’s producers with cases of fugitives on whom it has absolutely no leads, views the show as an extension of the publicity campaigns it has employed for years--including the 10 Most Wanted lists routinely hung in post offices since 1950.

“Television is a great medium for this kind of thing because it helps pique people’s interest in wanting to help catch criminals,” says Lt. Ray Biondi of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. “It is a great tool for law enforcement.”

Biondi took the case of Paul Mack to the producers of “America’s Most Wanted.”

The program showed how Mack allegedly had lured a young woman to his house in Sacramento, killed her by mixing an overdose of prescription pills with her drink and then fled the area. Walsh also mentioned on the air that Mack was suspected in the 1981 murder of another young woman in Ohio.

A woman who had once worked with Mack at an Ohio country club saw the broadcast and remembered that a month earlier she had received a strange phone call from Salt Lake City asking for a job reference on some man she had never heard of before. On a hunch, she called her local sheriff, who contacted Biondi in Sacramento. He contacted police in Utah, who quickly tracked down Mack and arrested him.

Even with such successes, the producers of “America’s Most Wanted” acknowledge that they have to be careful not to trample on the rights of their subjects. They say they try to avoid the problem of pretrial publicity by focusing primarily on fugitives who have already been convicted of a crime and have subsequently escaped from prison. Linder says that others are profiled only if there is what law enforcement officials believe is definitive evidence that they actually committed the crime. The show routinely avoids presenting people who are merely wanted for questioning, he says.

Linder also says he works closely with the FBI and prosecuting attorneys to make sure the reenactments will not interfere with a future conviction. When necessary, the show will simply depict the crime without showing any clear shots of the perpetrator.

“We are terribly careful because if our show resulted in a killer being set free, then it would be a failure,” Linder says. “And I can’t let that happen.”

But some law enforcement officers don’t worry about what might happen down the road.

“That’s like putting the cart before the horse,” Biondi says. “Our job is to solve the case and apprehend the suspect. Until we do that, there is not going to be a trial. We need to get the guy into custody and then worry about the rest.”

But shouldn’t TV stations worry about becoming a virtual extension of the FBI and the local police precinct? Fox officials haven’t lost any sleep over it.

“We are in the business of pleasing our viewers, and viewers are pleased that our stations are doing something for the community,” Herwitz says. “We have to do something like this carefully and legitimately, but I think this is a proper role for television to play because it appears to be something our viewers want. They want to participate in the process, and we’re encouraged by the fact that it has worked.”

“I think people are eager to watch and call us with information because they are feeling frustrated and helpless,” Walsh says of the overwhelming viewer response so far. “There are 280,000 wanted felons out there, and this program gives the audience the sense that they can do something about it.”