Wow, I went on the Unsolved Wikia site, and someone had written that Wade Mitchell Parker had been re-captured. I found an article that said that in May of this year, Parker was arrested under the assumed name of George Davenport in Norfolk, Virginia. He is currently waiting extradition.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18036769

There sure has been a lot of cases solved this year:
Robert Arcieri
Mike Emert
Mahfuz Huq
Carlina White
Mike Riemer (not really, but at least he's been found)
John Sohus

I'm drawing a blank on this one. Who was he again?

Same here. I do not remember this guy.

Wade Mitchell Parker was wanted for fraud, accused of stealing money from people after he had promised to build log cabins in Colorado.

Check out this link for more details.

http://www.unsolved.com/ajaxfiles/wan_wade_mitchell_parker.htm

Also of note Donna Chotvacs who was featured in this segment with her husband Earl as one of the victims of Wade Mitchell Parker passed away last month after a battle with cancer.

http://www.steamboattoday.com/obituaries/2011/may/21/donna-chotvacs/

Great news, especially since he had been on the run since 1994 or so. I really hope this recent surge in UM cold cases getting solved could provide a jumpstart for getting the series relaunched with new stories. If a lot of old cases are starting to get solved without UM even being on the air, imagine how much good they can do with a fully functional TV show!

I wonder how many of those older cases might have been solved if UM always had the full social media resources they have right now. I always fantasize about some cold case being solved because someone watched an old UM segment on the forbidden video site and decided to send in a tip.

Oh no, that's terrible news about Mrs. Chotvacs! I was just watching the segment recently and hoping he would be recaptured. I'm very sorry to hear it and wish that she could have seen Parker caught. I hope he gets a very hefty sentence for the suffering he has put his victims through.

"I really hope this recent surge in UM cold cases getting solved could provide a jumpstart for getting the series relaunched with new stories. If a lot of old cases are starting to get solved without UM even being on the air, imagine how much good they can do with a fully functional TV show!"

amen

I remember this segment now, and I'm glad this guy was finally apprehended. Although the Chotvacs should have demanded their money back, instead of settling for that ridiculous IOU Parker gave them. And anytime a deal sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Essentially Parker pulled off one hell of a Ponzi scheme.

Not only a full functional TV series, but one picked up by a main network, so that EVERYONE can view it in PRIMETIME. Perhaps NBC itself can be the one to bring it back, now that America's Most Wanted is gone.

They're going to be going crazy with "Updates"!

If you read the linked article from the Denver Post, it appears that a tipster who would only give the name "Treasure Dog" turned him in after all these years and did not receive a reward. Makes you wonder who it was that eventually gave him up and why it didn't happen sooner...

I am watching this case now. Glad to hear that the jerk has been caught.

ah okay i remember this guy

Wow, I went on the Unsolved Wikia site, and someone had written that Wade Mitchell Parker had been re-captured. I found an article that said that in May of this year, Parker was arrested under the assumed name of George Davenport in Norfolk, Virginia. He is currently waiting extradition.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18036769

There sure has been a lot of cases solved this year:
Robert Arcieri
Mike Emert
Mahfuz Huq
Carlina White
Mike Riemer (not really, but at least he's been found)
John Sohus
and maybe we will be adding DB Cooper soon to that list

Wade Mitchell Parker is my second cousin. He's my mother's first cousin. When his father died, we all went to the funeral. My step-father took his video camera along just because that's what he's into... Anyway, later, when we were watching what he had recorded, we noticed that everytime Mitchell was in a "shot," he'd step out of the view of the camera. We all thought this was very strange. At the time, none of us were aware of what he had done. Then, one night while watching Unsolved Mysteries, my mother began screaming... It was Mitchell's story. We knew, then, why he was acting so strange at his father's funeral. So, of course, we got involved, and the FBI interviewed our family. He's a REALLY sad story! God help those he's devastated!

Wade Mitchell Parker is my second cousin. He's my mother's first cousin. When his father died, we all went to the funeral. My step-father took his video camera along just because that's what he's into... Anyway, later, when we were watching what he had recorded, we noticed that everytime Mitchell was in a "shot," he'd step out of the view of the camera. We all thought this was very strange. At the time, none of us were aware of what he had done. Then, one night while watching Unsolved Mysteries, my mother began screaming... It was Mitchell's story. We knew, then, why he was acting so strange at his father's funeral. So, of course, we got involved, and the FBI interviewed our family. He's a REALLY sad story! God help those he's devastated!

Welcome, GraceCarrie. It's always great to have family members and friends post here. I'm sorry to hear your family had to find out what happened through a TV show, but I think it's great you all got involved!

If you don't mind my asking, do you or your family know or have any idea of who provided those tips to get Mitchell recaptured last year?

Any update on trial or sentencing?

Watching this on Unsolved Mysteries now. So sad to hear about the lady in the segment dying of cancer. Parker has since been released from prison.

Thats so sad about Donna, i felt really bad for her and her family. He was a real swindler!

Rewatched the segment on Prime today and the update simply says he has since been released. What I find really weird is when the Chotvacs went to Parker's lumber yard, they saw crews of workers essentially building the bases for what was to become log cabins. One of the investigators in the segment says something along the lines of people wondered if Parker was a stone cold criminal, or if he was simply a bad businessman, and the investigator said he was a criminal. So, if the entire scam was to defraud people from their money, why would he go through the trouble of getting lumber, hiring crews, etc.? The obvious answer would be to make his business look more legit, but it seems like he went through great lengths (and money) to keep this facade up. But it seems like he went much further than any of the other scammers featured on UM, which is probably why some people thought he wasn't doing anything deliberately criminal, and was simply a bad businessman. And I've also wondered if any of Parker's employees knew about the scam and if they were accomplices.

Just watched this segment for the first time in a while. It's an absolute shame that he was able to allude captors for so long, get caught, escape again, get caught and then only do four years. For what he did to people it seems like that is a super easy sentence.