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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1983)
Portrait of a bank robber This is the final part of a series profiling con victed bankrobber and murderer Floyd “Frosty” Forsberg. Daddy was a bank robber, but he never hurt nobody. He just loved to live that way, and he loved to steal your money. In 1974 Floyd “Frosty” Forsberg was sentenc ed to 25 years for the Reno bank robbery. But in April 1975 he financed an escape from the Nevada prison where he was being held. That prison escape led to a murder and Forsberg’s ultimate conviction for a murder he adamantly claims he’s innocent of. The murder victim was 20-year old Denise Catlin of California. Forsberg says she was a drug runner in a ring of cocaine dealers that he “hooked up with.” While in prison, Forsberg made contact with Fredrick Hopper, who he’d heard through the grapevine could break him out. Now Forsberg claims Hopper was an FBI agent. “The agent would do anything, so I sent for him to arrange an escape. He told me it would cost $150,000 to bust me out, '75' up front, ‘75’ later. So I said all right — do it. He got me out.” Forsberg becomes quiet and vague about the details of the escape. “She (Catlin) drove the getaway car with Clark Gable Timmons. I didn't want nothing to do with it (the drug running). But the guy (presumably Tim mons) said: ‘When you’re with us you got to do it.’ I offered him $10,000 to get the girl away. He says: ’When you’re with us, you do what the boss says.’ So I helped them kill the girl.” He falls silent. It’s an agitated silence. He rubs his face in his hands. He stares through the thick glass of the visiting room, his eyes fixing on nothing in particular. Suddenly he's excited, gesturing tightly, lean ing forward. Story by Cort Fernald Photos by Mark Pynes “They turned it around — so I had the murder weapon... I can prove it all... I can back it all up... this is the one I’m doing life for.” There’s more than a hint of disbelief in Forsberg’s voice. But he settles back into his chair, solemnly con ceding, “I’m involved in it.” Forsberg maintains it was Hopper — the FBI agent — who ordered the murder. Timmons, according to Forsberg, confessed to Catlin’s murder, but “they let him go." And Tim mons, he says, is in Philadelphia in a federal witness program, under an assumed name. Forsberg has been trying to get media atten tion, in hopes someone would uncover evidence supporting his claim of innocence in Catlin’s murder. In August 1979 Forsberg led Portland authorities to the shallow grave of a 5-year-old girl on the outskirts of the city. The girl was killed by inmate Richard Godwin, who told Forsberg of the killing while at the penitentiary. Godwin was con victed of the murder. In November 1979 Forsberg confessed to murdering James Turel of Portland. He wasn’t taken to trial. The authorities could find nothing to substantiate his confession. Even Forsberg says he “confessed to a murder (he) didn’t commit” all to keep his hands on the media to focus their atten tion on the Catlin murder. But his efforts have proved worthless. Forsberg has spent the better part of his adult life in and out of prison. He’s been more in than out. “I read about people 48, 50 years old, dying and suddenly I realize there’s an end to this. I’ve been spending the only thing of any value. When you’re young you say: ‘Five years... ten years, walk slow, drink a lot of water.’ You can be a smart ass when you’re young. You say, ‘Load up the wagon, Judge. I’ll pull it.’ But when you’re 40...,” Forsberg’s voice trails off. Forsberg was “shanked” while he was in Folsom prison in California after being transferred to Folsom from the Oregon state prison for protec tive custody. While he was hanging from a chinn ing bar at Folsom another inmate stabbed him under the left rib cage with an 10-inch piece of sharpened steel. Imagine if all the boys in jail, could get out now together. What’ya think they'd say to us while we was being clever. Forsberg considers the Oregon penitentiary one of the “safest and sanest" he’s ever been in. “I’ve been here seven years now, there haven’t been any killings, a few minor stabbings, few peo ple getting hit in the head,” Forsberg says distractedly. “The worse incident, a guy got hit in the head with a pipe. He’s over in the state hospital. I guess they have to feed him. He never did regain consciousness." :n)s<, from the U ofQ BooKstorA Welcome Back Students •i Reprints 19* from your favorite cobr negatives 11x14 $E99 5 5x7 $149 Prints from Slides 44 TNI SHUTTSR8U< No Other Coupon Is Accepted With This Offer Coupon Expires April 8, 1983 890 EAST 13TH 342-FILM Forsberg’s daily life inside prison is one of routine. “I usually get up about four in the morning and work out in my cell, calesthenics." Despite the pro blem of overcrowding at the penititentiary, Forsberg has a single cell. Overcrowding causes more than space pro blems at the penitentiary. It took a number of years, and more than few terms inside prison, but Forsberg says he has final ly wised up. When he was a clerk in the peniten tiary he met inmate counselor John Akins. Accor ding to Forsberg Akins "hit” him with some obser vations that really changed his life. The first thing Akins said was after a child molester’s cell was firebombed by an inmate. Forsberg told him he didn’t like child molesters — they were like a jackal. Akins asked Forsberg what he would call a check writer or a confidence man? "They’d have to be a black panther, sneaky and slick," he says, his voice bubbling. What about the armed robber? Akins asked. “Well, I said, ‘He’d have to be the lion, the Continued on Page 14 Dennis Noble A New Game Every Week! High score wins a T-shirt. We start April 4th with a new game.
