FBI offers reward for two female fugitives from NY, Pennsylvania

A mock-up of what Donna Joan Borup might look like today, made in 2011.
Credit: FBI

Federal agents in New York and Philadelphia are on the hunt for two women accused of violent acts of domestic terrorism in the early 1980s.

Donna Joan Borup and Elizabeth Anna Duke are accused of being members of an anti-government group called the May 19th Communist Organization that called for armed, violent revolution. Feds believe the two women might be on the lam together.

Rewards are being offered for information leading directly the arrests of Borup and Duke: $50,000 for each woman.

The reward for Borup’s capture comes in part from the FBI in New York, but also from the Port Authority and the Port Authority Benevolent Association.

Borup, who the FBI describes as highly intelligent and may have a photographic memory, is accused of throwing a caustic substance in the face of a Port Authority police officer during a violent anti-apartheid riot in Queens 32 years ago today, on Sept. 26, 1981. The police officer was left partially blind.

Borup was at that time arrested, but released on bail awaiting trial in May 1982. She failed to appear in court for her indictment on charges of riot in the first degree and assault in the first degree. On Sept. 14, 1982, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Borup, charging her with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

The FBI said Borup is skilled in silk-screening and previously worked in graphic design. She was born in South Amboy, N.J., and has ties to Philadelphia and Horsham, Pa. Feds said she may wear eyeglasses and baggy clothes.

Duke has been a fugitive since October 1985, after being arrested in May 1985 in Bucks County, Pa., with another radical who was wanted in connection with the Brinks armored car robbery in Nanuet, N.Y., on Oct. 20, 1981.She is wanted for several violent criminal acts during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The FBI said both women should be considered armed and dangerous.

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