Police Say Molester Is On The Run

Police say that Michael Bliss molested a nine-year-old female victim and videotaped the molestations.

The assaults allegedly began in September 2000. Authorities say that Bliss rented a video camera from a local rental company and that those dates match the dates that Bliss molested his victim in hotels in Vermont and Massachusetts.

Authorities searched Bliss' residence after his victim came forward and told one of her family members. When police searched his home on April 6, 2001, they recovered computer disks and videotapes depicting Bliss and the victim engaging in sexual acts. According to officials, there were more than 90 minutes of videotape. When Bliss discovered the police had been at his residence, he fled in his mother's car. Bliss' mother's car was recovered at Bradlee International Airport, where he had rented another car. The rental car was recovered a little over a week later at the Los Angeles Airport. He has not been seen since.

Bliss Is Convicted Criminal

In 1991, Bliss was convicted of beating three boys with an aluminum baseball bat. Police say he nearly killed the children, and one victim even flat lined on his way to the hospital. Bliss went on the run immediately after the crime, but police caught up with him a month later as he was trying to re-enter the United States from Canada. Bliss served nine years for that conviction, but was released in the summer of 2000.

AMW Capture #700

Bliss In Custody

America's Most Wanted helped take down an accused child molester who was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. On June 23, 2001 America's Most Wanted first profiled Michael Bliss. After Bliss was placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, AMW again aired a 30-second profile on February 9, 2002. That's when FBI agents and cops working the case got their break.

Numerous tips came in, but it was a call that night from an anonymous tipster that was right on the money. The caller said Bliss worked in construction at a hotel in Los Angeles. As a result of that information, agents in LA learned that Bliss was still in LA and looking for work at a hotel. They found out that Bliss had recently contacted Nutel Motel, where he worked as a handyman for a short while in October of 2001. Law enforcement officials set up a sting operation to take down Bliss, and at 5:30 p.m. on April 23, 2002, a multi-agency law enforcement team went to Nutel Motel and arrested 37-year-old Bliss without incident.