George Robert Johnston (1954 – 2004), better known as the Ballarat Bandit or John Doe #39-04, was a Canadian-born

burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murd ...

who gained nationwide attention as he spent the last several years of his life hiding from police in Death Valley National Park,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States. The nickname of Ballarat Bandit was given to Johnston in accordance to where his criminal career began, inside of the town of

Ballarat, California Ballarat is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1079 feet (329 m). Today, Ballarat is a virtual ghost town. It was founded in 1897 as a supply point for the mines in the canyons of the Panamint Ran ...

Life before Death Valley

George Robert Johnston was born in

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, Canada. He had been employed as a drywaller when he met his wife, Tommi, and they eventually had four daughters. When Tommi developed

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

, Johnston began to grow and sell marijuana. In 1997, when his activities were discovered, Johnston received a total of eight years in prison (of which he only served a year and a half before being

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

d). However, within just weeks of incarceration, he suffered a

breakdown Breakdown may refer to: Breaking down *Breakdown (vehicle), failure of a motor vehicle in such a way that it cannot be operated *Chemical decomposition, also called chemical breakdown, the breakdown of a substance into simpler components *Decompo ...

from which he never fully recovered. Tommi believes that medication Johnston was given in prison had exacerbated, or possibly caused, his breakdown, which left him unable to support his family. In 2000, Johnston left his family, saying he wished to leave Canada for the U.S., where he would seek help from a faith healer.

Years at large and death

In 2003, Johnston began his criminal career by burglarizing multiple areas of Ballarat,

, for various odd items with which he supported himself, as well as stealing weapons and hiding them inside of his various campsites. Johnston was described as being elusive, and police spent many months attempting to capture him. It was suspected for some time that he might have been a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

, or at the very least that he had military training, as his endurance and evasion techniques were rather impressive and foiled the police for months. Recognizing that he was near capture and unable to face being incarcerated once again, Johnston instead took his own life with a single rifle shot to the head. As police were unable to identify Johnston's body for eighteen months, he was known as

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

#39-04. Johnston did have a distinctive tattoo, but this did not initially assist with identification. His body was identified by

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...

identification in 2006 when the coroner thought to send his details to the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP). Lost to his family for years, his wife and four daughters were devastated at the news, as they had not heard from Johnston since his departure. He was buried in an

unmarked grave An unmarked grave is one that lacks a marker, headstone, or nameplate indicating that a body is buried there. However, in cultures that mark burial sites, the phrase unmarked grave has taken on a metaphorical meaning. Metaphorical meaning As a ...

in a potter's field in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 ce ...

In media

In 2008, Johnston's case was detailed on the

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...

television series, ''The Investigators'', on an episode titled "Lone Fugitive".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, George Robert 1954 births 2004 suicides 2004 deaths 21st-century Canadian criminals Canadian male criminals Crime in California Death Valley National Park Drug dealers Fugitives Suicides by firearm in California