The Cowboy & The Con Man

William Clarence 'Bill' Thornburg, known as Bill, was born in the 1920s and grew up on a ranch near Olancha in Inyo County, California. When his father died and Bill was 16 he took over the family ranch during the Great Depression, and over 30 years he expanded the Cabin Bar Ranch from 100,000 acres to 900,000 acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. He became a nationally recognised horse breeder and an expert in desert water management, joined the Inyo County Board of Supervisors in 1970 and served as a Lutheran church deacon. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Callie was raised on the ranch, could break horses and run every piece of equipment, and stayed to work with her father instead of going to college.

this part of the story is covered for now He said only that he was from San Diego and had been divorced. He was charming, stocky and strong, a former Air Force man with a pilot's licence, electrical and welding skills and fluent Spanish, and he had a temper. He managed the Olancha talc mill and picked up odd jobs at the Cabin Bar Ranch, where he met Callie, then about 20. They became a couple, and in 1978, after about nine months together, they drove to Reno and married. Bill approved. details of the account remain covered until revealed He isolated her, took control of her money, threatened her horses and woke her at night to deprive her of sleep; there was a rumour that he killed her dog. After about two months she left him and went back to the ranch, and Bill barred him from the property. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Bill fetched a gun, but Callie talked him out of shooting.

On 29 May 1979, the day the divorce was due to be final, Bill left the ranch house at 6 a.m. as he had for decades. Callie arrived at 6.15 to meet him, found he was not there and walked to the water lines where he began his morning rounds. His truck stood with the driver's door open and his coffee still steaming on the dashboard, but Bill was gone. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now

On Christmas Eve 1979 a teenager riding a dirt bike in the Sand Canyon area, about 45 miles south of the ranch house, found human remains and carried a skull home. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In 1984 he escaped, by hiding in a System 99 tractor-trailer and cutting a hole in its roof with smuggled tin snips. Four days later the search was called off. On 19 December 1984 he telephoned a Folsom guard at home to wish him a Merry Christmas, said he was in country to the north and would never be taken alive.

this part of the story is covered for now In March 1986 they moved to a subdivision about five miles east of St Cloud, Florida, where he built the family house himself. He fled the night before an America's Most Wanted broadcast about him on 18 February 1990; the FBI arrived to find only Lori and the baby. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He was transferred to Pelican Bay in 1998 after a package of escape paraphernalia was mailed to him. details of the account remain covered until revealed

Callie sold the ranch to developers in 1982 for a fraction of its value, moved to Sacramento, married twice and divorced twice, and never had children. She started a support group for families of the escaped in 1985, campaigned for victim notification laws and GPS monitoring of violent offenders, and published a memoir, The Desert Took Everything, in 1995. She still lives under an assumed name and is in therapy for PTSD. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it