A second chance at life is probably something that is rare and if one miraculously gets it, it comes with a price. One might be able to turn their life around when given an opportunity, but the baggage of the past always finds its way to the present. That’s when the real test begins! For Bobby Love, the second phase gave him a smooth living but after almost 35 years of leading a peaceful life with his wife Cheryl Love, thunder knocked on his door waking him up from his calm sleep. His past was full of secrets and escaping prison was just one of them. His successful attempt at breaking out the jail gave him a fresh start, a new identity, and a new home. However, he was living a lie that was going to take him way back far away from the glee and contentment of the present. He imagined that day but he didn’t expect it to arrive this way.
One Fine Morning
For Love’s, it was just another winter morning on January 22, 2015. Cheryl Love opened her eyes welcoming a new day as her husband was still in bed asleep. She began her day like always with a cup of tea. But it wasn’t going to be the usual morning for them as something unimaginable was going to step into their lives in the next few moments. Cheryl heard a knock on their door and stood up to attend it. “I opened it slowly and saw the police standing there,” she recalled in an interview.
Sensing The Bad News
Cheryl wasn’t surprised to the police on their door initially as they had a woman in their neighborhood who always called trouble for herself. So, the police were a common sight for them around. She said, “At first I wasn’t worried. But the moment I opened the door, twelve officers came barging past me.” That’s when she got in a sweat. What happened next was far beyond her imagination!
A Lot In The Name
As the police entered their house, Cheryl just couldn’t think anything. Everything seemed blurry at that moment as she just followed the officers in her home. She noticed the word “FBI” written on the jackets worn by some of the officials. “They went straight back to the bedroom, and walked up to Bobby,” she recalled. “What’s your name?” “Bobby Love,” he replied. Then they asked, “No, what’s your real name?” “You’ve had a long run,” the officers said as he murmured some words that she could not hear. Before she could utter anything, her husband was handcuffed. She begged for some explanation but all Bobby said, “This goes way back, Cheryl. Back before I met you.”
A Daunting Past
He was right when he said those words to Cheryl in 2015 as all that was the result of his actions a long time ago. When Walter Miller was spending his childhood in North Carolina in the 1960s, he had to struggle with a lot of stuff. He grew up facing poverty with seven siblings. He became disconnected and started looking for ways to keep his mind diverted from reality. With this attitude, the problems started arising and he found himself being pushed into a different world.
The First Arrest
14-year-old Walter was present at a Sam Cooke concert when things went downhill. “I was excited to be at that concert, so I pushed my way to the front row — right near the stage. The crowd was really moving, because it was dance music. And Sam Cooke didn’t like that. He kept telling people to sit down. And after only two songs, he got so angry that he walked off the stage.” This action by the singer infuriated Walter and he shouted an expletive right there. In no time, he was taken away by the police for disorderly conduct. He could not have anticipated the journey he was on from there.
Named In Felonies
The 1964 Sam Cooke concert incident was just the beginning of Walter’s doomed life. He went deeper and deeper into the criminal world. He admitted, “I lifted purses from unlocked cars, I was stealing government checks out of mailboxes, I got bolder and bolder.” He was indulging in all sorts of robbery and his name was written in various felony reports. He seemed to attract this negativity and it became harder to turn around towards the sun as he kept following the dark. He had gone too far this time.
What Fate Decided
His journey took one drastic turn when he was seized for robbing at his school in the band room. That was it! He could not go back from there. This attempt at stealing led to harsh punishment. The repercussions were brutal and he wasn’t prepared for this. His fate and actions landed him in a juvenile detention center. That was his life now. He was watched every minute and mercy did not exist at that place. Walter had to follow the stern rules or else, bear the worst.
Life As A Juvenile Delinquent
“I hated everything about that place.” Walter could not express more except these words about being stuck in a detention center. He was just shoving the food down his throat as it wasn’t pleasing the taste buds even a bit. More than the food, he grumbled about the physical torture. In the interview, he said, “I still have scars from all the times I got beat up.” That was the impact left on him after years of leaving that place. The nights were a little less harrowing for the young boy. He slept with the sounds of trains passing from a distance. Those sounds made him feel closer to the outside world and he craved freedom even more. He knew he had to devise a plan to leave.
The First Escape
With every passing night hearing the sound of the train, Walter was motivated to step out of this tormenting place and follow the train. “I always wanted to know where that train was going,” he recalled.
He waited for one window to open and he would be set free. That one opportunity was not going to creep in easily as that place had an eye on every juvenile delinquent every second. Fortunately, he got his chance one night. As the guard turned his face away from Walter for just a few seconds, he paced towards the exit. “I ran out the back door — toward the sound of that whistle. And that was the first place I ever escaped from.” Where did those racing steps take him next?
Towards Train Tracks
Walter did not have a destination in mind but he had a journey. He wanted to follow the railway tracks and not stop until he had found the end of the line. For months, he had been hearing the trains pass by and wished to be set free and head on a journey with them. As he followed the tracks towards the North, he found himself in Washington D.C. From North Carolina to the U.S. capital, the escaper came really far. He took admission to a high school in Washington D.C and stayed with his brother. He was a regular at his classes and picked up basketball as his game. He played on the campus with friends but all that seemed positive was just momentary. Walter’s companions turned out to be a bad influence on him. His life took him on another track now.
Old City, New Crimes
Walter had fallen badly in a trap and he didn’t know what he was getting himself into at that time. His friends were taking him back to his life that he once escaped from and he couldn’t sense that. This time, he was involved in worse crimes. “These guys were robbing banks — and getting away with it. So I decided to tag along. We’d drive down to North Carolina because those banks had less security. And we got away with it a few times. After every score, we’d hang out on the strip at 14th and T, and act like big timers.”
“We felt like gangsters. I have nobody to blame but myself. I just enjoyed the feeling of having money. But the fun didn’t last for long,” he further revealed.
Hit And Seized
Walter’s life took a turn and he ended up in a spot that he never expected to be in. He had to pay a heavy amount of involvement in the “cool” stuff with his group of friends. They were not getting away with these burglaries anymore. His robbery on June 21, 1971, got him in trouble as the bank had a silent alarm installed that went off as soon as Walter made his way inside. The police were warned and in no time, they arrived at the scene. They waited for him in the parking. “I tried to get away, ducking and weaving, running through cars,” he shared. However, he could not run as a gunshot came and immobilized him. Was he been thrown back into a life that he once fled from?
"Kept Hitting Dead Ends”
Walter opened his eyes and realized that he was in a hospital and recalled all that happened before everything went blur. But the reality was not going to change. He was held captive and there was nothing he could do to change that. “It was all over for Walter Miller. The judge sentenced me to twenty-five to thirty years. I held out hope for awhile.” A runaway who followed the trains expecting to turn around his life was now back to being a prisoner. “I was doing appeals. I kept hoping to win on a technicality, or at least get a new trial with a better lawyer. But I kept hitting dead ends.”
Truth Sinks In
Walter had to encounter reality and realize that this is where his actions had led him. “They sent me to a maximum security facility called Central Prison. Gun towers and everything. There was no way out, so I sorta got used to it.” Amid these tough times, another news came like a bolt of lightning in his life. His mother passed away and that just broke him. He could never fulfill her wish of becoming a good man. After all these challenges forced him to the ground, he rose back up and was determined to make amends in whatever way he could. He came up with a plan!
Transformation Leading To Transfer
He had to get his name off all the terrible records inside the prison and to accomplish that, he needed to have a behavioral change. He could no longer afford to be a part of any fights or misconduct. He wanted to make the officials believe that he doesn’t deserve to be in this menacing high-security jail. “So I committed myself to doing better. I became the perfect inmate. I never had a mark on my record. My behavior was so good that they transferred me down the hill to a minimum security facility.”
He was finally at a better place that would let him breathe. But his inner voice was not muted yet. There was something it was telling him.
Radio Show Host In Prison
The transfer revived him as he felt unconfined at that place he called “camp”. They had the liberty to roam around in the yard and use telephones to call their family and friends. “I even had my own radio show. It was a lot of fun. I recorded it every Wednesday, and they played it on the local college station. I was relaxed. I was feeling good. I had no plans to escape.” He was living a better life and could not let anything ruin this. However, some unexpected events unfolded down the hill too.
Freedom Slipping Through The Hands
Everything seemed peaceful and going in Walter’s favor until this one incident flipped it all. It happened when someone screamed an insulting word at the prison captain in the wee hours of the morning when Walter was in the kitchen doing his regular work. The captain pointed the finger at him and accused him of misbehaving with the officer. After that instance, he came under the radar of this prison captain and was continuously blamed for various things. “The negative reports kept piling up, until I was one mark away from being sent back up the hill.”
On The Road
With all the accusations and detrimental reports multiplying every day, Walter was shoved into darkness. He was assigned some awful tasks his job involved cleaning of the roads. He, along with a few other inmates had to wake up at the break of dawn, get on the bus that took them to Raleigh. “Then they’d drive you all over Raleigh to clean trash off the highways. It was awful. People would be throwing hamburgers and milkshakes at you.” He had to work in the harsh winters too and that’s when he made a big decision. He admitted that he started planning and plotting right away.
Eye On Every Detail
His escape from that juvenile detention center many years ago wasn’t the last one. He was planning to run away and was focusing on every tiny detail to make his mission successful. He took advantage of the agonizing job that took him out on the road. He paid attention to the route followed by the bus and that one stop at an intersection near a wooded area. “I also noticed that the guard who worked on Tuesday never searched the prisoners as they boarded the bus,” he shared. After months of observing and devising, it was time to break free. On Monday night while watching a game on TV, he had an image of what tomorrow would look like for him. “That was going to be my last night in prison.”
“Keep Going, Keep Going”
As it was time for Walter to head for his duty of collecting trash from the road that Tuesday, he had a different feeling this time while leaving his cell – a sense of release overpowered confinement. He had all the equipment and was prepared for his run. He had emptied his locker and left no trace of him. He even wore the civilian outfit he had from the radio show beneath the prisoner clothes before climbing the bus. “As we slowed down for a stop, I swung open the back door-- and I was gone. I could hear the alarm blaring behind me, but I didn’t look back. I peeled off my green clothes and just kept running.” He had no reason to turn around! “Every time I passed a brother, I asked for directions to the Greyhound station. Everyone kept telling me: ‘Keep going, keep going, keep going.’”
Out Of Raleigh
Running and sweating for a long time, Walter finally reached the station and he carried some good luck with him too. He was able to find a generous man who lent him enough money to buy a ticket to New York. He hopped on the bus and took his seat silently. A girl sat right beside him and she started a conversation with him. She asked his name and he paused for a moment. “I thought for a moment, and said: ‘Bobby Love.’ And that was the death of Walter Miller.” A new city had new ways for him!
Bobby Love’s First Steps
Bobby Love reached New York in late November of 1977. He had some money but that could only help him survive in The Big Apple for a few days. He stayed at a motel and ate hotdogs for many days. When his pockets were empty, he had to sleep on the trains. “I had to figure out a way to get a foothold in life. I wasn’t even a person. I had no papers, no ID, no nothing. Believe it or not, the first thing I got was a social security number. I walked up to the window and told the lady a story about losing everything, and she gave me a card.” Soon, he had a birth certificate and a driver’s license. Now, he needed a job that would help him find a decent place to stay and better food to consume. A life-altering moment approached him!
Love Makes Way
Bobby had all the essential documents to prove his identity and to land him a new job that would pay him good enough. In the 1980s, he worked in the cafeteria of the Baptist Medical Center. That proved to be life-changing for this man looking for a new ray of light after all the nights he spent dreaming of freedom. His sunshine came in the form of a woman named Cheryl who was also working at the same place. “Cheryl was innocent. The opposite of me. And that’s why I was so attracted to her.” He had fallen for this woman and wanted to hold her hand for the rest of his life but his past had not left entirely. It had the power to create destruction and Bobby had to be very careful this time.
‘Forget The Past, Forgive Yourself’
Bobby was sure about Cheryl and could not let her go just because he had a horrible past that haunted him at times. Cheryl entered his life and brought peace for him. So, he knew what he had to do next. They took the plunge on March 30, 1985. “Time went by. We raised four children together. I just couldn’t risk it. My family in North Carolina kept telling me: ‘You’ve got to come clean. You’ve got to tell her.’ But they didn’t know my wife.” Cheryl was a very ethical person and that is the reason Bobby never let his past slip from his mouth or actions. “Every Sunday our pastor would preach about forgetting the past, and forgiving ourselves, and looking ahead. And that’s exactly what I was doing.” How long could he stay like this?
The Lurking Past
While Bobby’s family back in North Carolina kept asking him to reveal all about himself, he was adamant and said, “That part of my life was buried back in North Carolina. And it wasn’t coming back.” It wasn’t like Chery didn’t notice Bobby’s strange behavioral traits that just seemed out of place. “There was a piece missing. All these years I loved my husband. And he loved me— but something was missing. First, he never liked to be in photographs. And he always thought people were watching him,” Cheryl shared. She was so close to her breaking point as things just kept getting weirder with time.
On Her Knees In Tears
Cheryl had never felt this way before and she could see Bobby being detached to most of the things and his body-language changing in front of strangers. But Cheryl kept her focus on the brighter side (well, she tried!). She revealed, “I kept thinking: ‘Maybe he doesn’t want to be here.’ But Bobby was a provider. He was always working two or three jobs. He’d cook, and do laundry, and spend time with the kids. I thought to myself: ‘Everyone is different. People have different upbringings. This might be how Bobby shows love.’” She was taking it one day at a time until she reached a saturation point and broke down. “I remember during Christmas of 2014, I was on my knees in church, saying: ‘Lord, please, I can’t do this anymore.’ I begged God to change my husband’s heart. I’d reached the end of my rope. That was a few weeks before everything went down.”
All That Was Hidden
Bobby might have tried his best to keep his amazing family away from his frightening history, however, he could not close the closet of lies for long. It opened and a flood of unimaginable incidents came. He recalled that his last trip to North Carolina to attend a sibling’s funeral might have tipped someone off about his location. Someone might have told the cops about him and that led to his arrest a few days later. FBI officers entered his house and handcuffed him in front of Cheryl. “My world came crashing down. Bobby’s arrest was all over the papers. Of course I was embarrassed, but I was more hurt than anything. Bobby had deceived me for all those years,” she recalled.
Enduring The Worst
Cheryl was shattered by all that she just witnessed. Watching her husband being taken away by the police and truth being thrown into her face made her crumble. She picked herself up and her love for Bobby became her strength in these worst times. “I was so angry. But I never hated him. I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to hold his hand.” She was prepared to go to any lengths to fight this. She was not letting Bobby serve any more prison time. “When I first visited him in prison, he broke down crying. His head was in his hands, and he told me: ‘I know, you’re going to leave me.’ I told him: ‘No Bobby Love, I married you for better or for worse. And right now this is the worst.’”
Painting The Real Picture
Cheryl paid no attention to judgmental looks and the comments being passed her way about her husband and his actions. She knew in her heart that he was a changed man. He loved his family and would not let his past have any impact on them. She was unaware of Walter Miller’s existence but she definitely knew Bobby Love. So, she mentioned all about him in her letters to the governor and even to President Obama. “I gathered testimonials from everyone that Bobby ever knew: all the kids he used to coach, all the people at our church, all of our family members.” The decision was taking a little longer than expected.
'We Love. We Love.’
Cheryl placed all statements and evidence on the table in front of Bobby’s parole board. It took one year of facing challenges for their life to turn around. The board allowed Bobby to walk out a free person. “The day after he was set free, I sat him down and asked: ‘What is it? Are we the Loves? Or are we the Millers?’ And he said: ‘We Love. We Love.’” That was the moment that brought them closer as a family as no secrets were hiding and nothing was being faked in that house anymore. “But I think this whole mess was for the better of things: better for me, better for the kids, and better for Bobby. He doesn’t have to hide anymore. He can look at me when I’m speaking. Not only that, he’s hearing me too.” From being trapped behind the bars to building a beautiful family, Bobby Love came a long way!
