U.S. Air Force fugitive missing for 35 years found living in California

A U.S. Air Force officer who went missing in 1983 was found last week, living in California.

Capt. William Howard Hughes, Jr., who was going by the name Barry O'Beirne, admitted his true identity after becoming the subject of a passport fraud investigation during an interview with the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service on June 5. Hughes was arrested by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations the next day.

Hughes said he became depressed in the Air Force, created the fictitious identity and has been living in California ever since, according to an Air Force press release.

He was last sent overseas, to the Netherlands, on July 18, 1983, to work with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officers. He was supposed to return to Albuquerque, N.M., on Aug. 1 of that year. But the Air Force never heard from him once he left for Europe, and he was declared a deserter.

Hughes, who worked out of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center in N.M., was last seen in Albuquerque withdrawing $28,500 from his bank account at 19 different branch locations.

He had a Top Secret/Single Scope Background Investigation clearance, which meant he had access to U.S. and NATO secret information. He handled classified planning and analysis of NATO's command, control and communications surveillance systems.

Hughes is awaiting pre-trial confinement. It's unclear what charges he will face.