Tennessee Fugitive Captured After 29 Years On The Run

He ran from the law and thought he was scott-free. But nearly thirty years later a man convicted in Hamilton County finds himself in the back of a New York Police car.

Police say Robert Henry has been hiding in in Troy, New York for a number of years. Henry says even his wife didn't know about his escape, but yesterday, acting on a tip, authorities caught Henry three decades later.

Back in 1979 Hamilton County Authorities captured and convicted Robert Henry for simple robbery . Just a year later, while on work release, Police say Henry took off

never to be seen again. That is until yesterday when he appeared in a New York courtroom.

Older and Grayer, Henry found his legs in shackles and

his hands in cuffs after nearly three decades on the run.

"We'll yall got me didn't you? Temporarily," Henry says.

Henry says this is all a big mistake dating back to his original arrest in '79.

"Well I was granted executive clemency - a full governor's pardon agreeing never to return to the state of Tennessee twenty nine years ago," Henry says.

But according to Dorinda Carter with Tennessee's Department of Corrections they have no record of a pardon for Henry.

"I tend to believe that he maybe a little confused about that. We have a lawfully signed warrant to take him into custody and the tennessee authorities are on the way to grab him," Sgt. Dave Dean with the Troy Police Department says.

"Well I'm a Christian, I go to church, I'm a great grand father and I'm only sixty two and I've had no problem with the law what so ever," Henry says.

But Henry says the current problems he faces were well worth the risk.

"Well sure and I'm not going back not without a fight>

Henry says he will fight extradition back to Tennessee where he could have to serve the remainder of his fifteen year sentence. Local authorities hope to bring him back within thirty days.

We've contacted the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department to get the details on Henry's case back in 1979 and you can depend on us to bring you that information as soon as we get it.