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LYNETTE "SQUEAKY" FROMME
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From the Lexington Herald-Leader, December 27, 1987:
Prison Officials Try to Find Out Reason for Fromme’s Escape
Associated Press
ALDERSON, W.Va. -- Prison officials yesterday sought to learn what led to Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme's escape.
Fromme had rejected parole hearings and quietly served 12 years of her life sentence for trying to kill former President Gerald Ford.
Authorities said they were checking phone records to determine whether Fromme told friends before her escape that she wanted to see Charles Manson.
There is a rumor among Manson sympathizers that Manson -- a mass murderer and guru of a cult that included Fromme -- is dying of cancer.
"It's a possibility that she called them," said Maureen Atwood, associate warden of the Alderson Federal Correctional Institution. It would take about two days to check phone records, Atwood said yesterday.
Ms. Fromme fled the federal prison for women Wednesday evening and was recaptured Friday two miles away.
Warden Ron Burkhart talked with Fromme minutes after she was returned to Alderson. He would not say what they discussed.
There was no confirmation from prison officials in California on Manson's health. He is serving a life sentence in San Quentin prison for the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and eight others.
Fromme, 39, had continued to correspond with Manson since she was permitted to re-establish contact five years ago, prison officials said.
Fromme was under tight security yesterday in the prison's infirmary. A guard was posted outside the door. U.S. marshals were expected to question her within the next few days.
"When we interrogate her, we'll try to get information to bring charges of escape from a federal institution," said U.S. Marshal James P. Hickman.
Ms. Fromme aimed a gun at Ford Sept. 5, 1975, but he was unharmed when a Secret Service agent grabbed the semiautomatic .45-caliber pistol.
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