in 1959, caught after a grocery holdup in st. louis, ray was declared a habitual criminal and sent to the missouri state prison for 20 years. you have a guy who wasn't very bright, wasn't a good criminal, wasn't the sharpest tack. >> he's smart, he's plenty smart, intelligent. >> smart enough, jerry said, not to get caught most of the time. >> they don't catch him on the other crimes, you know. so he had done a lot of things he got away with. >> almost eight years later in 1967, james earl ray escaped from prison by smuggling himself out in a bread truck. he headed for chicago taking a job as a dishwasher at the indian trail restaurant. then on a summer afternoon, downstate in alton, illinois, a bank robbery. john light was the chief of detectives. >> the witnesses said two people came in, masks like ladies' stockings pulled over their head.