Fugitive in 1982 Wyoming bombing lived as dead classmate in New Mexico

For decades, a man lived as Walter Lee Coffman, using his Social Security number, obtaining a driver's license and passports, purchasing property and even cashing more than $100,000 in government retirement benefits, Justice Department officials said.

In reality, he was using the identity of another man who had been dead for close to 50 years, authorities said, after going on the lam because he was facing attempted murder charges in Wyoming.

The run from the law ended last month, authorities said, after multiple law enforcement agencies arrested Stephen Craig Campbell at his property in Weed, New Mexico. They charged him with misuse of a passport, officials announced Wednesday.

The US attorney's office in New Mexico accused Campbell, 76, of assuming the identity of Coffman, a University of Arkansas graduate who died in 1975 when he was 22 years old.

University records show that Campbell and Coffman were students at the university at the same time where they "pursued engineering degrees, suggesting a likely connection between the two," according to the Justice Department.

David Benatar, a lawyer for Campbell, said that his client is "presumed innocent, and we should let the court process reach its end before jumping to any conclusions."

Campbell, who graduated with an electrical engineering degree, had seemingly disappeared in 1983 when he failed to appear in court to face charges of first-degree attempted murder in connection with a 1982 Wyoming bombing, according to court documents.

In 1982, he was accused of planting a toolbox containing an explosive device at the doorstep of his estranged wife's boyfriend in Wyoming.

After his arrest by the Rock Springs Police Department, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, Campbell was released on bond. Authorities issued a warrant for him after he did not show up to his court date.

Campbell first applied for a passport under Coffman's name in 1984, "starting a long pattern of fraud that spanned decades," according to court records.

When officers went to New Mexico to carry out the warrants on Feb. 19, Campbell "greeted law enforcement armed with a scoped rifle, positioning himself in an elevated, partially concealed spot," according to prosecutors.

Officers deployed stun grenades and tried to engage Campbell, who "remained hidden but later emerged from the wood line after repeated orders" and was detained, authorities said.