Bucky Phillips – Western New York’s Top 5 Crime Cases

A career criminal convicted of burglary and robbery, Bucky Phillips was serving time in the Alden Correctional Facility and used a can opener to cut his way thru the metal roof of the facility’s kitchen area in April of 2006. He was on the run for the next five months until he was captured in Pennsylvania, but during that time he shot and wounded a State trooper during a traffic stop south of Syracuse, then later ambushed two troopers in Pomfret, New York, killing one of them.

Reward money for the capture of Phillips rose to $450,000. Some supporters wore t-shirts that read “Run, Bucky, Run” and “Where’s Bucky”.

One day after ending up on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, he was cornered and captured in a rural area of Warren County, Pennsylvania. Phillips was sentenced to life in prison for the murder and assault of the troopers in Chautauqua County and sentenced to an additional 25 years to life on the escape charges in Erie County. Phillips is currently jailed in Amsterdam, New York and late last year failed in an escape attempt.