Bienville Parish man on the run for 32 years back in custody

By Web staff

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    ARCADIA, Louisiana (KTBS) — A Bienville Parish man who’s been wanted for more than three decades has been captured.

FBI agents arrested Greg Lawson of Ringgold in Mexico, Sheriff John Ballance said.

Bienville sheriff’s deputies went to Houston, Texas, Wednesday afternoon to pick up Lawson at the airport. They are taking him to the Claiborne Parish Detention Center.

A tip received by the FBI New Orleans office led to Lawson’s arrest, the agency said in a statement to KTBS.

Lawson, 63, was convicted in 1991 of attempted murder even though he didn’t stick around to hear the verdict. His truck was found a block away from the Claiborne Parish Courthouse, where the trial was moved to.

Lawson then became a fugitive. And soon was on the FBI radar. In 2007, the FBI offered a $10,000 reward for information on his whereabouts, hoping to bring new light to the cold case.

Lawson’s arrest and conviction was notable at the time because Lawson’s family was well-known in Bienville Parish. He grew up in Ringgold, as did the man he shot, Seth Garlington.

Lawson reportedly got away with other crimes during his life because of his family’s influence. A dispute between him and Garlington first led to Lawson forcing Garlington’s vehicle off the road. They got into a fist fight in a gas station parking lot.

Then the guns were pulled out. At the time, those who remembered what happened said it was one of the biggest shootouts Ringgold had ever seen.

Garlington was shot but survived. A Bienville Parish grand jury indicted Lawson for attempted second-degree murder.

There were some reported area sightings of Lawson through the years. Tips put him in foreign countries, too.

FBI New Orleans received a tip earlier this month that Lawson was indeed in Mexico. Agents in Shreveport and Mexico coordinated with FBI Headquarters and Mexican immigration authorities and arrested Lawson Tuesday in Huatulco, Mexico. Mexican officials deported Lawson for immigration violations.

“We want to thank our partners and the public in this case, who never gave up hope that justice could be served for Mr. Lawson’s victim,” said Douglas A. Williams Jr., special agent in charge of FBI New Orleans. “There is no doubt that Mr. Lawson might still be in the wind if our partners in Mexico had not been willing to deal with this so swiftly.”

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