Giggles in the morning. Love it. Can you imagine him a fugitive on the run in 27 years? Here’s one who did:
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He can't remember when they got to Georgia, only that the weather was turning cold and he had big blisters on his feet. The car ran out of gas somewhere in North Carolina, so they'd sold it, bought camping gear and set out on foot, taking the Appalachian Trail for a while, then sticking to the highway, where people occasionally offered rides.
In Murray County, Ga., they got permission to camp at the Saddle Club, a place that hosted equestrian events.
They became Eric and Diane Coleman. He missed his parents. She missed her mother. Each had a sister. They dared not contact them for fear of being caught. At Thanksgivings, Christmases and birthdays, the mood fell. They wondered if their families were well - or even alive.
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Every day for 27 years, he got up and told himself he could get through one more. Richard Boucher knew the sham could be over at any time.
Police once stopped him as he walked along the highway with the bookbag he always carried. They figured he was a transient. He explained he lived just up the road. That was always the end of it.
He never slept well. Noises made his heart pound.
When the police came for him at the trailer on Hooker Road, appearing in the woods with guns drawn, he thought they were looking for someone else. Then they used his real name. That one he hadn't heard in so long.
He wondered, in his soft, polite manner of speaking, how much longer he could have done it?
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Richard Boucher called his dad from jail.
His mother, he learned, died five years ago. He regrets that she never knew what had become of her son; that so many people expected the worst for so many years.
He still doesn't sleep well.
"There are too many things," he said. "I couldn't list them all. I'll never get that back."
Fugitive says life on run was full of loneliness, loss and lies
