A FORMER US Army soldier wanted for rape and desertion has been arrested in Malaga after spending nearly 30 years on the run.
Jesse Bussey was detained in November 2025, it has now emerged, while posing as an English teacher and living under an alias, according to Military Times.
The arrest brought one of the longest-running manhunts in US Army history to an end, with Bussey now beginning a 16-year military prison sentence following his extradition to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Bussey fled his unit in Germany in 1996 while facing allegations of rape and indecent assault. He was later convicted in absentia of both offences, as well as desertion, and was dishonourably discharged.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division had also offered a $25,000 reward for information that could help locate him.
Following his desertion in Germany, according to US Marshals, he assumed a false identity and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, where he served from late 1996 until early 2000.
After leaving the military unit, Bussey reportedly became homeless in France and adopted the identity of a Nigerian national nearly two decades younger than himself.
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Investigators believed he had never returned to the United States, leading them to focus their search on Europe and Africa for years before finally making a breakthrough.
The key lead came after a member of the public responded to an appeal for information shared on social media.
US Marshals said Spain’s National Police and Ministry of Justice also played a key role in the international manhunt.
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