How Do People Get Put on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List?

Serial killer Ted Bundy, polygamist and child abuser Warren Jeffs and mobster James “Whitey” Bulger have something in common: They all made the FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. 

The list was launched on March 14, 1950, a year after a reporter asked the FBI about the “toughest guys” agents were looking for. The subsequent article received widespread attention and inspired the bureau to create its own list to track down potentially dangerous criminals and suspects.

As of October 2025, 537 people have made the list.

Everyone who makes the list has been linked to a serious crime, such as murder, robbery or kidnapping, and is considered a dangerous fugitive. Some of those listed are suspected of one criminal act, while others have lengthy criminal histories.

The FBI must be unaware of a fugitive's location and believe that the list's publicity will help agents find their target. Agents must also think that the increased attention from being listed won't send a suspect deeper into hiding.

Criminals and suspects who are widely known already get publicity and attention, so the people added are usually lesser-known criminals or crime suspects. Finally, the FBI must have a name and photo of the fugitive for that person to be listed.

Agents spent two decades tracking Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, whose bombs killed and injured three people and injured nearly two dozen between 1978 and 1995. But Kaczynski wasn’t identified as a suspect until a few months before his arrest, so he never made it onto the 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

The standard selection process begins with the FBI’s 55 field offices sending list recommendations to the agency’s Criminal Investigative Division. These are discussed with the bureau’s Office of Public Affairs before FBI leadership makes final selection decisions.

The Bureau can act more quickly. James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, and the FBI placed him on the list on an emergency basis on April 20. Ray was taken off after his arrest in London in June 1968, but was added again within hours of a prison escape on June 9, 1977 (he was found a few days later). Ray is one of the six people who've appeared on the list twice.

When people are captured or removed from the list, there can be vacancies until new candidates are proposed and the next round of selection happens.

In 1970, the number of people on the list rose to 16 after seven people who violently opposed the Vietnam War were added in quick succession in September and October, and only one person was taken off during that period.

The list is not a ranking. In other words, just because someone is listed first does not mean that person's capture is considered more important than arresting others lower down on the list. And the FBI doesn’t prioritize certain captures. 

However, Osama bin Laden was unofficially the top target until he was killed in 2011.

Other notable entries include:

There are several ways people can leave the list.

First, fugitives are removed from the list after they are captured. In addition to arrests of most wanted fugitives by law enforcement, the public has helped nab 163 people since the list was established. 

In 2023, the FBI raised the potential reward for public assistance to $250,000, but it can go higher. The neighbor who gave the tip to the FBI that prompted Bulger's arrest received $2 million.

Suspects or criminals who make the list but die before being arrested are taken off of it. Andrew P. Cunanan was a suspect in several murders when he joined the Most Wanted list on June 12, 1997. He claimed another victim, designer Gianni Versace, before dying by suicide on July 23, 1997. The FBI took him off the list the next day.

When charges are dismissed against suspects on the list, their names are removed. Bernardine Rae Dohrn of the Weather Underground, a militant anti-war group, was added to the list on October 14, 1970. The FBI had not located Dohrn when the federal charges against her were dismissed on December 7, 1973, therefore, her name was removed.

Finally, names can be delted from the list when the fugitives no longer meet list criteria. Victor Gerena was added in 1984 after allegedly stealing more than $7 million from Wells Fargo. He remained on the list for a record-breaking 32 years, but was removed in December 2016 because the FBI confirmed he was in Cuba.