Jesse James Hollywood - Life As A Fugitive

Life As A Fugitive

At the time of Hoyt's arrest, Hollywood fled the country through Canada and went to Brazil with help from his father Jack Hollywood, his godfather Richard Dispenza (who was unaware he was a fugitive at the time), and his girlfriend at the time. Law enforcement agencies and the Markowitz family offered a reward of $30,000 for information leading to Hollywood's capture, this was later raised to $50,000. Hollywood lived on Copacabana Beach where he assumed the identity of "Michael Costa Giroux" and claimed to be a native of Rio de Janeiro, and later on, of Saquarema. In an attempt to blend in with the countryside he took up the Portuguese language. He worked in Brazil by putting up posters advertising a nightclub and later landed a job teaching private English language classes and being a dog walker. Yet the bulk of the money he lived on came from a $1,200 monthly stipend funneled by his father. While in Brazil, he met Marcia Reis, who became pregnant by Hollywood. Jesse James believed the pregnancy would protect him from extradition to the United States, as Brazilian law stated that "If you're the father of a native Brazilian, you cannot be extradited" (See the case of Ronald Biggs); however, Jesse James was wrong about the Brazilian laws, which had been changed since the international controversy with Biggs. Additionally, he was in Brazil as an illegal immigrant because he had arrived in the country with a false passport, a fact that already would have allowed his deportation, regardless of his fathering a child with a native Brazilian.

United States authorities worked with Brazilian agents and discovered that Hollywood was planning to meet a cousin at a mall. He was arrested by Brazilian authorities in Saquarema in March 2005. In July 2005 Reis gave birth to Hollywood's son, named John Paul Hollywood-Reis.

He was profiled on America's Most Wanted from September 2000- June 2004 and twice in 2005 after being captured. NBC's Dateline and Fox Network's America's Most Wanted have covered this story extensively.

While Hollywood was in Brazil, all participants in the murder were convicted or made pleas. Ryan Hoyt is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison. Graham Pressley was released from the California Youth Authority Facility in 2007, and Jesse Rugge is currently serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California. William Skidmore was released in April 2009 after serving 9 years behind bars for the kidnapping.

In 2005, on the same day Jesse James Hollywood was arrested in Brazil, his father was arrested for manufacturing the illicit narcotic GHB, but the charge was later thrown out in court. Jack Hollywood remained in custody on an outstanding 2002 warrant for a marijuana-related charge, and later received 18 months in an Arizona prison.