The State - News from April 9, 1989

A convicted murderer who fled a Massachusetts prison while on furlough and became a California real estate agent and actor was sent back to prison. Superior Court Judge Andrew Gill Meyer in Norfolk, Mass., said Arthur Bembury, 37, still should be punished, and sentenced him to one to three years in prison. Bembury pleaded guilty to escaping from Norfolk State Prison. He fled while on a weekend furlough to visit his family in August, 1974, and was caught last October. Bembury was convicted in 1970 of second-degree murder and had an appeal pending when he fled. That appeal has been reopened. While in California, Bembury worked as a real estate agent in Marina del Rey, fathered three children with his girlfriend of 11 years, and helped establish a home for emotionally disturbed people. He also took small acting parts. Bembury played a gang member in the movie “Colors,” got small parts in the television series “Hill Street Blues” and had a role in a TV movie about the Atlanta serial child killings.