The Incredible Story of Ronald Dwayne "Ronnie" Kays: A 40-Year Escape Artist

In 1973, Ronald Dwayne "Ronnie" Kays, also known as William Henry Cox and Louis Vance, pulled off an astonishing escape from a North Carolina prison. For the next 40 years, he evaded capture, building a new life for himself in various cities across the United States. His remarkable ability to forge IDs and assume different identities made it nearly impossible for law enforcement to track him down.

Kays' escape plan was ingenious. He collected names from children who had died decades earlier and used them to create fake identities. This allowed him to start fresh in each new location, free from any paper trail that could lead the authorities back to his true identity. He moved from city to city, always staying one step ahead of the law. His destinations included Chicago, Georgia, Washington State, and finally, Waterloo, Iowa, where he settled into a life with no visible connections to his past.

For 40 years, Kays lived under assumed identities, collecting social security checks and living off the grid. The only clue to his true identity was his presence in the Iowa driver's license system, which he had somehow managed to get into twice: once as William Henry Cox and once as Louis Vance. This oversight would prove to be his undoing.

The Iowa Department of Transportation took a dramatic turn when they instituted a facial recognition system on driver's licenses. When taking a photo, they also run a scan of the subject's facial geometry, measuring the distance between the eyes and the width of the chin. The final scan runs dozens of these measurements, which can be compared against a database to identify potential matches.

As it turned out, 43 different states have implemented some form of facial recognition system on driver's license photos, with seven of those states comparing their data with federal databases to see if any of those photos match a fugitive. The key to this system is that all the photos are taken from the same distance and angle, making them easy to compare.

The introduction of facial recognition technology has made it exponentially harder for individuals like Kays to remain on the run. With his photo in the Iowa driver's license system and subsequently scanned through federal databases, the authorities finally had a lead to follow. When Ronnie Kays submitted an ID at a local agency, they knew exactly who he was. This marked a major turning point in his pursuit, as the police were now closing in on him.

The power of facial recognition technology was demonstrated when Ronnie Kays was arrested and returned to North Carolina to serve out the remainder of his sentence. The Social Security charges against him were dropped, but the authorities had finally tracked down the man who had evaded them for so long.

Ronnie Kays' remarkable story serves as a testament to the incredible effectiveness of facial recognition technology in capturing international fugitives. His ability to evade capture for 40 years was largely due to his intelligence and cunning, but ultimately, it was the advancement of technology that brought him to justice.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enin 1973 Ronald Dwayne KS escaped from a North Carolina Prison and stayed free for the next 40 years he was in prison for armed robbery but he was also unusually good at forging IDs he collected names from children who had died decades earlier building a new life for himself as William Henry Cox and Louis Vance he moved from City to City Chicago to Georgia to Washington State before finally settling in waterl Iowa with no paper trail police had no way to follow him 40 years later something changed the Iowa depart Department of Transportation instituted a facial recognition system now when the department takes a driver's license photo it also runs a scan of the subject's facial geometry measuring the distance between the eyes and the width of the chin the final scan will run dozens of those measurements which can be compared against a database to see if there's a match 43 different states run some kind of facial recognition system on driver's license photos and seven of those States compare with Federal databases to see if any of those photos matches a fugitive crucially all of the photos are taken from the same distance and the same straight on angle which makes them easy to compare it's a simple process but it's become an incredibly powerful tool for catching International fugitives you need the same kind of Straight Ahead photo for a passport and it gets scanned anytime you cross an international border if you're on the run from the police chances are they have a mug shot of you and now they have an easy way to use it anytime you cross an international border or submit an ID that agency will be able to run a scan to see if there are any outstanding warrants for someone with your face it's made it much harder to drop off the grit especially as that system has expanded intern Al catching us fugitives as far away as Nepal for KS that global system wasn't even necessary his photo raised a flag because he was in the Iowa driver license system twice once as William Henry Cox and once as Louis Vance and both men were collecting a monthly social security check as soon as that hit came in police knew they had a case of Social Security fraud but when they paid him a visit they realized they had something else too this was the same man authorities had been trying to track down for decades KS was arrested and on September 4th 2014 he was sent back to North Carol to serve out the remainder of his sentence the Social Security charges were dropped the Social Security charges were dropped were dropped we're dropped we're dropped like good for him um okay we're dropped uh okayin 1973 Ronald Dwayne KS escaped from a North Carolina Prison and stayed free for the next 40 years he was in prison for armed robbery but he was also unusually good at forging IDs he collected names from children who had died decades earlier building a new life for himself as William Henry Cox and Louis Vance he moved from City to City Chicago to Georgia to Washington State before finally settling in waterl Iowa with no paper trail police had no way to follow him 40 years later something changed the Iowa depart Department of Transportation instituted a facial recognition system now when the department takes a driver's license photo it also runs a scan of the subject's facial geometry measuring the distance between the eyes and the width of the chin the final scan will run dozens of those measurements which can be compared against a database to see if there's a match 43 different states run some kind of facial recognition system on driver's license photos and seven of those States compare with Federal databases to see if any of those photos matches a fugitive crucially all of the photos are taken from the same distance and the same straight on angle which makes them easy to compare it's a simple process but it's become an incredibly powerful tool for catching International fugitives you need the same kind of Straight Ahead photo for a passport and it gets scanned anytime you cross an international border if you're on the run from the police chances are they have a mug shot of you and now they have an easy way to use it anytime you cross an international border or submit an ID that agency will be able to run a scan to see if there are any outstanding warrants for someone with your face it's made it much harder to drop off the grit especially as that system has expanded intern Al catching us fugitives as far away as Nepal for KS that global system wasn't even necessary his photo raised a flag because he was in the Iowa driver license system twice once as William Henry Cox and once as Louis Vance and both men were collecting a monthly social security check as soon as that hit came in police knew they had a case of Social Security fraud but when they paid him a visit they realized they had something else too this was the same man authorities had been trying to track down for decades KS was arrested and on September 4th 2014 he was sent back to North Carol to serve out the remainder of his sentence the Social Security charges were dropped the Social Security charges were dropped were dropped we're dropped we're dropped like good for him um okay we're dropped uh okay\n"