Beatrice Daily Sun from Beatrice, Nebraska • 5

Beatrice (Neb.) Daily Sun, Friday, May 6, 1994 A-5 Former Lyons police chief recounts his years on the run By RobynTysver Associated Press writer Webb jokes about prison term following sentencing TEKAMAH, Neb. (AP) A former He disappeared shortly after Anton's Webb's attorney, Michael Levy, also was in a good mood. "The fact that he is eligible for parole in a little under three years is a pretty good result," Levy said. Burt County District Judge Darvid Quist handed down the sentences. WEBB, 43, originally was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded no contest to the reduced charge' of manslaughter and guilty to the tampering charge under a plea agreement in March, Webb was charged with killing Anna Anton, 34, on Dec.

15, 1986. Webb said he awoke after a night of heavy drinking with Anton to find her dead on his kitchen floor. He moved the body from his apartment to a field in Walthill, about 20 miles north of Lyons. police chief who was on the run for six years after the shooting death of liis former lover joked about the prison term he was given on Thursday. Former Lyons Chief Gregory Webb was sentenced to between eight years, four months and 19 years.

He will be eligible for parole in 35 months. Webb laughed and joked as he was led from the courtroom after getting 20 months to five years on a charge of tampering with evidence, and 80 months to 14 years on a charge of manslaughter. The sentences are to be served one after another. "I'll probably meet some new and exciting people there," Webb said as he was readied for prison after the body was found and eluded police for more than six years. He was captured in February 1993 in Florida after someone who saw a segment on the case on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" tipped police to Webb's whereabouts.

Webb could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison on the tampering charge and up to 20 years in prison on the manslaughter charge. Webb was taken to Lincoln immediately after the hearing to begin serving his sentence, Levy said. In an interview a day before his sentencing, Webb seemed to express hope for a lighter sentence. "I have no criminal history, I wasn't out robbing banks in Florida or anything," he said. fighting for his life.

He's got nothing to lose," Krieger said. Webb fled three days after Anton's body was found. He hopped a flight from Houston to the Central American country of Belize. He spent a few months wandering from Guatemala to Costa Rica, looking for work and learning the language. He used buses to travel because they were cheap.

"There were hardly any jobs down there, and eventually you run out of money and you got to eat," he said. HE TOOK A bus through Mexico and crossed the border at Nogales, back into the United States. He moved to Florida for a construction job. "My original plan was to work six. months, and then go back down there (Central America) for six months," he said.

But he met Pam Gilroy and stayed. He lived with her for six years in Florida and married her in March while he was in jail. "It's a good thing I met her, but as a result of meeting her, it was just a matter of time before I got caught." The mother of five never knew he was a fugitive and never delved into his past, Webb said. While a fugitive, Webb scanned the television guides for episodes of himself on the television crime shows. During a rerun, he would leave town to visit an imaginary sick relative or to scout for work.

"I would always square it away at work and square it away at home. That way, if nobody showed up, I could come back and it was just like before," he said. PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) When former Lyons Police Chief Greg Webb talks about his six years on the lam, it sounds like a movie Webb's Great Adventure. In an interview one day before he was sentenced to prison on charges of killing a woman in the town where he once patrolled, Webb boasted of his escapades as a fugitive in Central America and Florida.

He took delight in ridiculing the police who spent six years trying to track him down. "These guys are so stupid," he said Wednesday at the Sarpy County Jail. "They had my airline tickets. They knew I was on the plane and went to Belize and they never sent any warrants down there and they never told the people in Central America about me." But Webb, 43, wearing a ponytail and droopy mustache, became serious when he spoke about the death of Anna Anton, 34. Anton's killing jolted Lyons, the north-.

eastern Nebraska community of about 1 ,200 where Webb had served as police chief about 10 years. Early on Dec. 16, 1986, Webb awoke in a drunken haze to discover Anton's body on his kitchen floor. Soon afterward, Webb disappeared. HE ELUDED police until Feb.

23,. 1993, when he was captured in Holly Hill, after someone saw a story about the case on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" and tipped police to Webb's whereabouts. Webb said he doesn't believe he killed Anton. Originally charged with first-degree murder, Webb said he agreed to a plea bar- gain because he feared that a witness he needed would not come forward and he didn't want to put his case in front of a jury. Webb was sentenced Thursday to no less than eight years and four months and no more than 19 years in prison on charges of manslaughter and tampering with evidence.

His attorney said Webb could be eligible for parole in a little less than three years. On the night she died, Anton and Webb had been drinking heavily. The last thing Webb remembered was passing out in bed. When he saw Anton's body, he first thought it must have been a suicide. But when he checked the wounds, the then-police chief knew better.

She had been shot For six years after he fled, Webb thought of himself as a murderer. Now, he's not so sure. He offered no proof but said he believes a former girlfriend wandered into the apartment that night, fought with Anton and killed her in a jealous rage. "In a way, I'm glad I got caught because now I'm aware there's a good chance I didn't do this," he said. "Inside I'm much happier." JERRY KRIEGER, a retired Nebraska State Patrol investigator who worked on the case, scoffed at Webb's theory.

"He's an ex-police officer and he's three times. Panic-stricken, he quickly wrapped the body in a sheet, stuffed it into a trunk and dumped it in a field 20 miles north of Lyons, which is 28 miles northeast of Fremont. IT WAS stupid, he said. "I was pretty dang drunk at that time. When you have to make those hard decisions like that when you're intoxicated, you don't have a he said.

Webb said he had a drinking problem but hadn't taken hard liquor for three weeks before the night with Anton. Then, the two of them drank two bottles of brandy. Lottery lightning strikes again honor Nixon student and as president. Nixon graduated third in his class in 1937. "The Law School does not recognize the deaths of faculty, alumni, or friends of the Law School at its graduation," Gann said Thursday.

"An exception was made in this case because of the students' request and because President Nixon's death had occurred so close in time to the graduation week-, DURHAM, N.C. (AP) Commencement is designed to honor student achievement, not fallen presidents, the dean of Duke University's law school said after the school declined to honor Richard Nixon with a moment of silence. Instead, each program distributed at Sunday's graduation will include a letter Dean Pamela Gann wrote after Nixon died last month, describing his accomplishments as He was drinking coffee with his wife and some friends at a truck stop when the six numbers in Wednesday's drawing were televised. He initially realized he had picked four of them, which would be worth $30. "I didn't say a word to anyone," he said.

"I kept my mouth closed." He stopped his car in front of a church, checked again and found he had all six numbers. He. said he will work through his 30th year to secure his pension, then "think things through." dollar," Staninecz said. The Miracle Mile reputation attracts ticket buyers nationwide. Last July, people from all 50 states and Canada showed up to buy tickets for a $111 million drawing.

The jackpot was won by Leslie Robins, a teacher who lived a short walk from the South Main Street supermarket where he bought his winner. A $19.6 million ticket was sold April 28, 1990, at a grocery store across the street from that supermarket And a ticket worth $21 million was sold Aug. 15, 1990, at a convenience store a few blocks away. "It was our turn," said Phillip Moses, manager of Ma and Pa's Grocery and Deli, where Staninecz made his $1 investment Wednesday morning. "We will be the next.

I can guarantee it," said Tammy Reines, manager of the Quik Trip convenience store, which has Miracle Mile's only lottery machine that hasn't sold a jackpot winner. "Patience. You just got to have patience." Lottery officials don't suspect foul play, but they refuse to guess the odds of so many big winners being sold within less than a mile of each other. "It's like any supernatural event or wonder of the world," said Karl Kurth, a state gaming official who services lottery machines in the city of 37,000. "It defies all the odds." Staninecz, who has worked 29 years at a Mercury Marine Inc.

outboard engine factory, won the jackpot in Wisconsin's Megabucks game. For fourth time, millionaire made In Fond Du Lac FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) So many lottery jackpots have been won on this city's "Miracle Mile" that a sign outside town reads "$150 miUionwon (so far)." Now it's time to change the sign: Another multimillion-dollar winner has been sold on South Main Street Factory worker John Staninecz who turned in a ticket Thursday worth $6.5 million, is the fourth person since 1990 to buy a big winner along Fond Du Lac's business district, which has five lottery machines. "I bought one ticket, one single Throujti June 4th, receive the big chill from Peoples ind save $100 on iny centrtl air condition-in; system in stock. And when you chill out with air conditioning from Peoples, rest assured the quality is as cool as the price.

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