Ten’s Most Wanted: Wally Thrasher

Wally Thrasher has been on the run for a long time.  And U.S. Marshal Wayne Pike has been chasing him for most of it.

“John, you know I’ve been chasing this guy for gosh, a couple of decades,” Pike said.

Wally Thrasher was, and most believe still is - a major drug smuggler.  Described as a swashbuckling pilot who would jump out of 2nd story windows in college, just to prove he could.  His ties took him to the top of the Columbian drug cartel. 

Deputy Marshal Matt Davis is the latest man assigned to catch Thrasher.  The case file is old and enormous, going all the way back to Thrasher’s Pulaski County roots.  He showed us several cardboard boxes, and many, many binders full of evidence.

“He went to High school at Pulaski High School, and nearby was a church that he had set up deals with and he would buzz the church, and he would push the bales out into the field behind the church and they would drive up and take custody of ‘em,” said Davis.

A plane crash in October of 1984 put local authorities on the case.   

“The plane crashed in Carroll county on the Blue Ridge Parkway, killed one of the occupants—Hundreds of pounds of marijuana on that plane, a lot of money—hundreds of thousands of dollars disappeared,” Pike said.

Davis added, “This one in particular had been receiving maintenance at the Roanoke airport. … That’s how they were able to track it back to him.”

The pilot, Nelson King survived and escaped the scene which left the pot scattered all over the side of the mountain.  Two month later he was captured, and began to cooperate with authorities.

He led them to Olga Thrasher, the beautiful Portuguese wife of Wally, and his business partner.  Olga had put a “hit” out on King, but he survived.

Pike, then Wythe County’s Sheriff, arrested her and put her in the Wythe County jail, where she was somewhat of a celebrity.  They hoped that she would lead them to her husband… But instead, in return for her freedom, she helped sting two of the top drug lords ever busted in the U.S.

But not Thrasher, who continued, they said, piloting drugs using Beechcraft King Airs in Belize and the Caribbean. 

Everyone that’s ever been interviewed regarding him, no matter what they had to say about him, said that he was a tremendous pilot. … He flew under the radar and it was nothing for him to be 100, 150 feet off the swells and grinning the whole way, he was a very good pilot, Davis said.

One time, Olga presented the courts a fake death certificate, saying Wally had died in a plane crash.  It’s one of three times he’s reported to have died.  None substantiated. 

Pike says Olga played it wrong, using a wedding ring as evidence from the crash.  “She claimed she had his wedding ring… But he was supposed to have been incinerated in the aircraft.  The first thing that would have melted would be that ring,  that was the first indication there was something not right,” Pike said.

Davis tells WSLS-10 that Thrasher has faked his death more than once.  “He’s alleged to have died in Peru, alleged to have died in Belize, alleged to have died in Jamaica, he’s a heck of man if he’s died that many times.”

“He was caught in the Caribbean, he dropped a plane in the Bahamas, lost a big load of dope there.  He was jailed in Mexico one time.  He was caught off the coast of the Carolinas with a boatload of stuff,” Pike said.

But every time he was caught in a foreign country, Wally Thrasher, now a multi millionaire was able to buy his way out, to work the system.  It was easy to disappear in the 80’s and 90’s.  Today Marshal’s say it’s just a matter of time.

And they believe he still has contacts in the area—specifically the New River Valley. 

“He has multiple family members who live in the Commonwealth of Virginia, more especially in the New River Valley area … We’re talking siblings, brothers, they do live here in the immediate area, and it’s quite possible that he visits them,” said Davis, who believes Thrasher may show up occasionally without notice and leave just as quickly.  He believes thrasher is still flying, and never sits still for long.

There have been credible sightings of Thrasher in Belize within the last two years, and Marshals say they have other reasons to believe he’s still alive and in business.

They say Olga has re-married and lives in Georgia, and think she likely has ties to her former husband.

Carlin: “You believe she still has connection to Wally?” Davis: “My personal opinion is yes.  No question.  People describe them as being totally in love and partners.  And the two combined, they say there is no way if he is still alive that he doesn’t have contact with her.”

Marshal Pike says he wants Thrasher before he retires from law enforcement. “He may think that he lives a life of luxury but It’s got to be pretty bad.  He doesn’t know when one of us is going to be there to grab him,” Pike said. 

“We’re not gonna stop until we find him.  That’s our job and there’s an outstanding warrant for his arrest and that’s what the U.S. Marshals do and we aren’t going to stop until we have a body or him,” said Davis.