I swear I saw this guy (the actor who played him, not the actual suspect) on some other movie or tv shows, with that weird hand.

Anybody else know who this actor was?

Also, was the "real guy" ever caught??

Nope...Wadada was never caught. I don't know the actor's name.

The actor's name is Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter. He's got quite a decent list of film and TV credits to his name:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027599/

I believe he was recognized on more than one occasion from people who really thought he was Wadada. I wonder if anyone ever called the UM hotline or the cops because of him, especially since the real Wadada never had a photograph.

What I find odd is if this "Wadada" was a friend of the victim, why is there no real photos or record of him? Was this guy someone who went to the same college as her or a complete stranger she befriended? Alot of questions need to be answered.

What I find odd is if this "Wadada" was a friend of the victim, why is there no real photos or record of him? Was this guy someone who went to the same college as her or a complete stranger she befriended? Alot of questions need to be answered.

I think the UM segment implied he was a guy who hung around the college campus and was friendly with various students.

I could see this being a very real possibility. For example, for my last two years of college, I transferred to a large public university. It was frequented by a lot of transient students who may not have considered the school their home school, and some who may not have been degree seeking. One class I took had a few retirees as students who told me they were taking the class for fun. In that type of environment, I befriended many people who I would hang out/study with, but we would inevitably lose touch when the semester ended and we moved on to other, different classes. With most of these people, I can't today recall their last names, if I even knew them to begin with. I certainly don't have photos of them. Facebook and other social networking sites might make identification easier these days, but it wasn't around when the crime in question was committed.

What I find odd is if this "Wadada" was a friend of the victim, why is there no real photos or record of him? Was this guy someone who went to the same college as her or a complete stranger she befriended? Alot of questions need to be answered.

I just found it most surprising that neither Sarah nor any of her friends or family knew the guy's last name. I mean, I suppose it's possible to be friendly with people without ever learning their last name, but Sarah obviously knew and trusted this guy well enough to let him into her apartment. I'm sure the guy lead a transient lifestyle without ever leaving any sort of paper trail.

I remember seeing the Steven Seagal movie marked for death on cable years later and saying, "that's Waddada!"

I swear I saw this guy (the actor who played him, not the actual suspect) on some other movie or tv shows, with that weird hand.

Anybody else know who this actor was?

Also, was the "real guy" ever caught??


Wait.. did he come out in Dont Be A Menace To South Central? Lol I remember seeing him in that movie playing a homeless guy with a sign that says "F--k it Im just lazy" and he drives off in a mercedes... loll

I remember seeing the Steven Seagal movie marked for death on cable years later and saying, "that's Waddada!"

I remember watching this episode and saying "oh wow that's the guy from only the strong!"

-They probably shouldnt use famous actors in the recreation of these events. Now when I watch Only the strong, I can't take him seriously because i think he is wadada

-They probably shouldnt use famous actors in the recreation of these events. Now when I watch Only the strong, I can't take him seriously because i think he is wadada

If we didn't have famous actors in recreations, none of us could claim we knew McConaughey WAY back when... Alright, alright, alright? :)

That being said, I will add that I didn't realize he was the bartender in Encino Man. Hilarious. :)

He's in Michael Jackson's BLACK OR WHITE video.

I remember the episode as a kid but I don't remember the claw. I feel like thay would have scared me. I must have tapped out before it got to that part.

I remember the episode as a kid but I don't remember the claw. I feel like thay would have scared me. I must have tapped out before it got to that part.

What he did was pretty horrifying, regardless of what he looked like

I can't believe he was never caught...

What he did was pretty horrifying, regardless of what he looked like

I can't believe he was never caught...
I agree again this was one of the more brutal and terrifying cases I saw when I was younger. Not making light of his appearance it was more the crime that scared me because I do not understand violent criminals. UM putting those scary sketches on did get to me.

I just found it most surprising that neither Sarah nor any of her friends or family knew the guy's last name. I mean, I suppose it's possible to be friendly with people without ever learning their last name, but Sarah obviously knew and trusted this guy well enough to let him into her apartment. I'm sure the guy lead a transient lifestyle without ever leaving any sort of paper trail.


I had friends in college who didn't know my first name, let alone last name. I went by a nickname that was not a diminutive of my name and everyone called me that. And I was ENROLLED at the college, not just lurking about.

The actor's name is Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter. He's got quite a decent list of film and TV credits to his name:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027599/

I believe he was recognized on more than one occasion from people who really thought he was Wadada. I wonder if anyone ever called the UM hotline or the cops because of him, especially since the real Wadada never had a photograph.
I wonder how often that happened? An actor getting mistaken for being a wanted criminal...

I wonder how often that happened? An actor getting mistaken for being a wanted criminal...

Yeah, I particularly wonder if this happened for actors who played unidentified criminals where all they had composite sketch. For instance, the actor who played Megadeth guy in the Deborah Poe segment was such a memorable scary-looking dude that I'd be surprised if someone DIDN'T call the authorities on him!

Yeah, I particularly wonder if this happened for actors who played unidentified criminals where all they had composite sketch. For instance, the actor who played Megadeth guy in the Deborah Poe segment was such a memorable scary-looking dude that I'd be surprised if someone DIDN'T call the authorities on him!

I've posted about this before on another thread, but it happened fairly frequently (at least on AMW). Personally, when I think of the segments I tend to think of the actor's face before the suspects'. I think its as simple as the time of exposure. On average we probably viewed 3 minutes of the actor versus 10-15 seconds of mugshots/composites. I'm guessing the producers really would play up the music effects to add shock value to the mugshot in an attempt to overcome this effect or at least balance it somewhat.

I vividly remember seeing an (either Inside Edition or A Current Affair) report & interview with one actor that was mistakenly arrested around 1990.

A few online examples, as recent as 2012-

http://articles.latimes.com/1992-12-01/local/me-1329_1_mistaken-arrest

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2003/may/01/when-you-star-americas-most-wanted-you-get-paychec/

http://nypost.com/2012/04/23/oops-re-enact-actor-arrested/