Fla. fugitive arrested after 21 years

LAKELAND — Edward Morales moved on with his life after leaving prison 21 years ago.
He spent time as a truck driver, moved to Lakeland and apparently got married.
The problem, authorities say: He was a fugitive living a lie.
On Tuesday night, at his Lakeland home, the truth finally caught up with him.
“When we arrested him, he was more in a state of shock or stunned,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent Grant Johnson said today.
Investigators say the woman they believe to be Morales’ wife was devastated. She has known him about 15 years but didn’t know his real name and had no idea he was wanted. She has not been identified.
Morales escaped from Copeland Road Prison in Collier County on May 4, 1988, about four years into a 17-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. Morales and another man robbed and shot a man in Jackson County in 1983, authorities say.
After fleeing, Morales used multiple identities including David Alvarado, Roland Garcia and Daniel Silva.
Posing as Alvarado, he was arrested on drug charges in Manatee County in June 1994, authorities say. But by the time his fingerprint results came back showing he was Morales, he had already bailed out of jail and disappeared.
When investigators came to Morales’ home Tuesday, they charged him with escape and resisting arrest without violence.
Morales, 54, was booked into the Polk County Jail under the name John Doe.
The search for Morales heated up in June 2008 when FDLE and the Department of Corrections teamed to track down 10 of the state’s most violent prison escapees.
Investigators say Morales is the first fugitive apprehended. One of the escapees has died and the search continues for the other eight.