DES MOINES, Iowa – Jacob Greer reportedly faked his own suicide in 2016 to avoid facing child porn charges. Federal authorities announced the Iowa man is not dead, but in custody.
Six years ago, Greer, 28, removed an ankle monitor and fled from Des Moines. His vehicle was later found to contain a suicide note. However, on Monday he was arrested in Spanaway, Washington, the US Marshals Service said in a statement.
“In April 2016 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Greer on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography. He was released on bond the next day under pretrial supervision with an ankle monitor and was living with his grandmother in Des Moines.
“On May 31, 2016, Greer’s U.S. Probation Officer received a monitoring alert indicating Greer’s GPS device had been removed. A multiagency search effort ensued, and Greer’s vehicle was found with a suicide note inside of it. However, searchers did not find Greer’s body. A federal arrest warrant for Greer was issued that day.
“On June 8, 2016, the U.S. Forestry Service located another vehicle associated with Greer in Tuchuck Campground in Flathead, Montana, but Greer was not there. Investigators discovered Greer had purchased the car with a $1,000 loan from a friend and that he had fled Iowa with money, a bow, arrows and a backpack full of survival gear.
“Greer was last seen at a Wal-Mart in Kalispell, Montana, June 3, 2016, wearing a camouflage hat. Through additional interviews, investigators learned Greer was a survivalist and had plans to live off the land in remote areas of the upper western states or southern Canada, hiding out in abandoned cabins.”
– U.S. Marshals Service
“The arrest of Jacob Greer after six years is a testament to the tenacity of Deputy U.S. Marshals and our investigative partners,” said U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Iowa Ted Kamatchus. “Even though the case went cold, they would not quit.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what the fugitive has been doing in the years since he was last seen or what led the Marshals Service to finally capture him.
Greer is currently at the Federal Detention Center in Seattle. He will be returned to Des Moines to stand trial.
