Fugitive in Carson murder case arrested

A murderer wanted for parole violations who had been missing since 2006 has been arrested in Las Vegas.

Eric William Zessman, 59, was taken into custody after the Division of Parole and Probation received a tip about his location in Southern Nevada. He attempted to flee on foot when P&P officers arrived but was captured after a short pursuit, officials say.

Zessman was convicted of second-degree murder in 1976, after his 6-month-old son was found starved to death in a car parked near a Carson City casino. A spokesman said he was released on parole in 1981 and has been released a total of six times, but that he either became a fugitive or committed new crimes each time he was on parole.

One of those cases involved an armed robbery at a Las Vegas coin company while Zessman was on parole in 1997. He wasn’t apprehended for nearly two years but, after a trial, was convicted of robbery and imprisoned.

He was released in summer 2006 but disappeared from community supervision four months later. He has been listed as a dangerous, wanted felon on the P&P website since that disappearance, and officials have been looking for him ever since.

When P&P was tipped this week, a division spokesman said, officers also were told he was abusing an elderly woman and living with a person who was involved in the 1997 robbery.

Zessman was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and ordered held without bail on several charges, including parole violations.