California IN BRIEF : SANTA CRUZ : Fugitive for 18 Years Captured

A Kentucky drug fugitive, whose 18-year flight was aided by a family member who declared him legally dead, was captured in Santa Cruz, the U.S. Marshals Service announced Friday. Two marshals, accompanied by local officers, raided the home of John Spelz on Thursday and arrested him after a struggle. Spelz evaded his Kentucky prison term in 1972 on a drug conviction. During Spelz’s arrest, federal officers seized a suspected mobile drug lab parked in front of his home and recovered $250,000 in cash. Spelz’s brother, his only living relative, had him declared legally dead in 1985, said Deputy U.S. Marshal David Hiebert. But federal officers traced Spelz to Santa Cruz, where he was living under the alias Robert Parker.