Steven Jay Russell escaped from prison an astounding four times, each time on Friday the 13th. Apparently, most of his escapes were motivated by a desire to be with Philip Morris, a cellmate he fell in love with during his second stint in jail.
Here’s a sample of his exploits, from Wikipedia:
Russell got out of Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas wearing civilian clothes he had obtained. Afterwards he fabricated bogus credentials and got a job as CFO of North American Medical Management. He proceeded to embezzle thousands of dollars from the company. In 1995 he was caught and imprisoned for insurance fraud and again placed into Harris County Jail where he met Phillip Morris, who became his lover.
In 1996 Russell escaped from Harris County Jail; he impersonated a judge and ordered his own bond decreased from $900,000 to $45,000, which he easily met. He was arrested 10 days later in Florida and sent back to Texas. That same year he started taking art classes provided by the prison. Each time he attended each session, he snatched a green Magic Marker and hid it under his bed. Eventually, he had enough markers to dye his white prison uniform green. Because all the medical professionals in the prison wore green uniforms, Russell simply walked out the prison as a “doctor”
[…] On March 20, 1998, Russell posed as a Virginia millionaire and tried to take a $75,000 loan from NationsBank in Dallas. When bank officials got suspicious and alerted the police, Russell feigned a heart attack and was transported to a hospital. The FBI placed him under guard, but Russell managed to impersonate an FBI agent on his cellular phone and stated that he was no longer wanted. He disappeared, but was caught shortly thereafter.
After being sent to prison, Russell began to plot his most daring escape. Using his privileged access the prison library, Russell began reading up on AIDS. He also began taking laxatives to make it look as if he had the symptoms of AIDS. Russell used a prison typewriter to forge a medical document stating that he suffered from the disease, and used it convince doctors of his “condition” on February 24. He also persuaded the prison doctor that special needs parole to Houston hospital had been authorized on March 13. While outside and free again, Russell posed as the doctor that put him in special care and told officials that Russell had died.
If all that sounds unbelievable, well, it did to me too. So I did some checking and it seems like a true story, first told in a non-fiction book by a Houston crime reporter in 2003. The Discovery Channel called Russell the “King of Cons,” one of his escapes is described in U.S. National Library of Medicine documents, and Mental Floss loves the guy. Incredible.
What’s more, Russell’s life story is being turned into a movie — I Love You Philip Morris — starring Jim Carrey as Russell and a brave Ewan McGregor as Morris. It’s set for a Valentine’s Day launch in 2009.
Image via Mental Floss.
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