A man who vanished from Oklahoma more than a decade ago after staging an elaborate fake kidnapping has been found living under a false identity in upstate New York, according to law enforcement officials. After 13 years on the run, authorities arrested 44-year-old Anthony Lennon, a convicted sex offender who appears to have rebuilt a new life at a university near the Canadian border.

Lennon had been listed among Oklahoma’s most-wanted fugitives since March 2012, when he fled as prosecutors prepared to charge him with multiple counts related to child sexual exploitation material. Rather than face the accusations, investigators say he crafted an elaborate plan to make it look as though he had been abducted and possibly killed.

In March 2012, Lennon was working at a Super 8 Motel in Moore, Oklahoma. According to law enforcement records, he staged a dramatic crime scene: a pool of blood, a missing shoe, ripped shirt buttons, bloody footprints, and cash removed from the motel’s drawer. The U.S. Marshals Service later said the staged setup included false evidence meant to convince authorities he had been violently kidnapped.

Police officers quickly grew skeptical. Investigators noted several odd details, including Lennon’s work name tag left behind and a single shoe placed unusually conveniently at the scene. Within hours, detectives suspected the abduction had been fabricated. Lab analysis later confirmed the blood belonged to Lennon, suggesting he injured himself to make the disappearance appear real.

Just before the incident, Lennon had emptied his bank account and reportedly told bank employees he was “in trouble with the law” and needed all of his money. At the time, he was already a registered sex offender following a 2010 conviction in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, and faced eight new felony counts.

For years, Lennon evaded law enforcement across the United States. Investigators tracked occasional digital breadcrumbs, including activity on an Amazon account in North Carolina in 2020 and a possible sighting at a well-known Texas anime convention in 2022. Despite sporadic clues, authorities were unable to locate him, as he appeared to move strategically and use his advanced technical skills to stay hidden.

Lennon’s background in computer science seemed to play a role in his ability to disappear. Officials said he earned a master’s degree and had been pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science at the time he fled. According to the criminal affidavit, he used aliases to acquire identification documents and made repeated attempts to secure a U.S. passport under false identities.

The search finally ended last week in Canton, New York, a college town near the Canadian border. Investigators executed search warrants in northern New York and ultimately detained Lennon in a supermarket parking lot. Authorities later confirmed his identity through fingerprints.

Under the name Justin Tyler Phillips, Lennon had enrolled at the State University of New York at Canton in the fall of 2024. University officials said he was studying for an associate degree in engineering science and lived off-campus as a commuter student. His quiet enrollment and ordinary student life stood in stark contrast to the manhunt that had been pursuing him for over a decade.

Officials described Lennon as “very computer savvy,” suggesting he possessed the tools and knowledge to navigate life off the grid. Nonetheless, his long-running evasion finally came to an end.

Lennon is currently in federal custody in Syracuse, New York, while authorities work to return him to Oklahoma for prosecution related to the 2012 charges. Those charges include eight counts of possessing child sexual exploitation material, which carry significant potential penalties.

Lennon is represented by a federal public defender in Syracuse. In a brief statement, the attorney said only that the man in custody is alleged to be Anthony Lennon and emphasized that he is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process under U.S. law.

For law enforcement officials who spent 13 years searching for him, the arrest marks the conclusion of a long-running pursuit. For the University community in northern New York, it brings an abrupt end to the story of a student whose real identity concealed a complex, troubling past.