We’re happy he’s finally been brought to justice, and to bring closure to the victim. It’s nice to close the books on this and to finally have a resolution.”

Portsmouth Police Chief Brian Peters

Editor's note: This story was edited at 4:06 p.m. Friday to reflect new comments from Portsmouth Police Chief Brian Peters. 

PORTSMOUTH — For more than 20 years, Portsmouth Police Chief Brian Peters said one case never quite left the department’s collective memory.

“It was very frustrating,” Peters said Friday. “It’s something we haven’t seen in one of our Portsmouth cases, where someone takes off in the middle of the trial.”

That chapter finally came to an end this week.

Ronald L. Fischer, a former East Greenwich doctor who disappeared before closing arguments in his 2005 Newport Superior Court rape trial, was arrested without incident about an hour off the New Jersey coast after investigators tracked him to a 56-foot sailing vessel he was operating under an alias, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

The arrest, announced Thursday by Rhode Island State Police, ended a two-decade international manhunt that began after Fischer walked away from his trial. Although he never returned to court, the proceedings continued in his absence, and a jury convicted him of first-degree sexual assault for raping Cheryl Gingerich of Westerly aboard his yacht, Lion King, while it was docked at Hinckley Yacht Services in Portsmouth in 2003.

Peters, who was a Portsmouth patrol officer when the assault occurred, said he vividly remembers the case even though he had not yet become a detective. The investigation was led by detectives A.J. Bucci, who has since retired but remains a reserve officer, and Harry Leonard.

‘Thrilled,’ says chief

“I have to say we were completely thrilled,” Peters said of Fischer’s arrest. “It was a shock to a lot of people when he didn’t show up in court that day as part of the trial process.”

The chief credited decades of persistence by local, state and federal investigators.

“It’s something we thought about a lot,” he said. “We’re thrilled with our state and federal partners who kept an eye on this guy.”

Authorities said members of the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force recently developed credible new leads placing Fischer in New York. Investigators determined he was operating a 56-foot sailing vessel, The Silver Lining, under the alias “Richard Graydon.”

Working with the FBI, Rhode Island State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard, deputy U.S. marshals intercepted the vessel about an hour offshore. Fischer, now 70, was taken into custody without incident and transported to Coast Guard Station Staten Island before being turned over to federal authorities.

“This arrest demonstrates that time does not erase accountability,” U.S. Marshal Wing Chau said in a statement. “For more than twenty years, Ronald Fischer believed he had successfully escaped justice. … We hope today’s arrest brings a measure of justice and long-awaited closure to the victim and everyone impacted by these crimes.”

Met online

According to court testimony, Gingerich met Fischer through an online personal advertisement. During the 2003 assault, she later told police, “All I could think was, I am alone in the bottom of this boat, and no one will hear me if I scream.”

Just before disappearing in 2005, Fischer emailed his attorneys to say he was leaving the United States rather than risk conviction, writing that he intended “to enjoy life in another country where I have long been carefully planning a good, safe, secure and comfortable life.”

The search stretched across the globe. Peters said Portsmouth detectives and Rhode Island State Police chased numerous reported sightings over the years.

“We were getting several leads of sightings that, believe it or not, were happening all around the world,” he said.

At one point, Bucci even traveled to Washington, D.C., to appear on America’s Most Wanted in hopes of generating new leads.

Closure for victim

For Peters, the arrest is about more than catching a fugitive.

“We’re happy he’s finally been brought to justice, and to bring closure to the victim,” he said. “It’s nice to close the books on this and to finally have a resolution.”

The investigation that led to Fischer’s arrest involved the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force, FBI, Rhode Island State Police, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Portsmouth Police Department.