MANY IN COLORADO TOWN RALLYING AROUND FUGITIVE

Man still on run after 25 years

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. - For a man in hiding, Neil Murdoch lived a very
public life for 25 years.

When he wasn't feuding with town leaders over buildings for the arts, he
was promoting mountain biking as a national sport. Or wearing a diaper on a
frosty night to a New Year's Eve party. Or getting in trouble with the law
for scattering rocks across a road to stop people from speeding through
this mountain town of 1,500 people.

He also took a major role in the town theater, building props and
volunteering for plays.

So everyone was surprised when U.S. marshals marched into town last April
and announced that Mr. Murdoch wasn't Mr. Murdoch at all, but Richard
Gordon Bannister, 57, wanted for jumping bail in 1973 in Albuquerque, N.M.,
after being arrested on charges of intent to distribute 26 pounds of cocaine.

Mr. Murdoch went on the run again and has since become a folk hero to many
locals, who are refusing to help marshals find him.

"I don't know Bannister. I knew Murdoch, and he did a lot for this
community," said former Mayor Mickey Cooper, a developer. "He's already
paid for what he did in ways none of us could ever guess. If someone wants
a manhunt, I won't help them."

That attitude has angered marshals.

"He's not a folk hero. He's an accused drug trafficker," said Larry
Homenick, chief deputy in the Denver office of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Early on, Deputy Homenick said, "people were not cooperating, not giving us
information that could've led to an immediate capture." But now, he said,
investigators do not believe Mr. Murdoch is keeping in touch with anyone in
Crested Butte.

Investigators learned of Mr. Murdoch's true identity when he slipped up and
used his real Social Security number when he applied for a job.

On April 28, marshals questioned him in this town 250 miles southwest of
Denver and released him after he convinced them they had made a mistake.
Two days later, the marshals returned to arrest him, only to find that Mr.
Murdoch had fled.

Residents rallied, and sold 2,000 "Free Murdoch" stickers for $2 apiece.
Council members donned Murdoch masks and marched in the Fourth of July
parade, pursued by someone wearing an FBI hat.

Theater officials even gave him a Golden Marmot award, their lighthearted
version of the Oscar, for best acting.

"We gave it to him in absentia, of course," Mr. Cooper said. "He did a
great job of acting for 25 years."

Mr. Murdoch posted a phony biography of himself at the local Mountain Bike
Hall of Fame.

According to the biography, which was accompanied by a picture of the
balding man with shocks of black hair on the side, Mr. Murdoch graduated
from the University of Pittsburgh with a math degree and managed the
Troubador Cafe Theater in Hollywood, Calif., before moving to Crested Butte
in 1974.

In Crested Butte, Mr. Murdoch lived alone in a downstairs apartment. He
opened the town's first shop devoted exclusively to mountain biking,
putting fat tires, gears and brakes on old Schwinn bicycles. He also
volunteered at a day-care center.

"He raised my two kids," said Jeff Neumann, who worked with Mr. Murdoch at
a printing business.

Mr. Neumann said no one knew Mr. Murdoch's background and no one asked.

"In a small town like Crested Butte, we take people for who they are. We
don't hold their past against them," he said.

Town Manager Bill Crank, who has known Mr. Murdoch for 25 years, insisted
Mr. Murdoch is "not my hero."

"I don't think the people who are touting Murdoch have talked to the guy
who had his Social Security number stolen. I understand he's pretty angry,"
Mr. Crank said.

At the same time, said Mr. Crank: "Hell, I don't know if I'd turn him in or
not. It's kind of comical: The feds lost him for 25 years, then they found
him, then they lost him again. It's all sort of amusing."

Checked-by: Pat Dolan