On the run for 21 years, U.S. fugitive 'psychic' arrested in Toronto

A U.S. fugitive on the run from authorities in Florida for more than two decades has been arrested in Toronto after living in the city — out in the open — for years, CBC News has learned. 

Patrick Lutts Jr. faces manslaughter charges stemming from a drunk-driving crash that killed two teens in Orlando on Christmas Day 1998.

Lutts, 51, vanished after skipping a plea hearing in 2003, only to later re-emerge in Toronto as a self-styled psychic and host of a local bar's monthly trivia night, according to court records and online posts reviewed by CBC. 

Lutts's online presence in recent years paints the picture of a man with a busy social life. A horror movie aficionado, he enjoyed ski trips, rock concerts and frequent drinks with friends.

There's no sign his acquaintances in Toronto knew anything about his status as a wanted man, or the early-morning crash that killed 19-year-old Nancy Lopez and her boyfriend Darvin Javier DeJesus-Taboada, 18.

According to investigators, the couple were thrown several metres when Lutts — with a "strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath" after a night of drinking — slammed his pickup truck into their vehicle.

Lutts was found to have had a blood-alcohol level of 0.272 — more than three times the legal limit.

"He didn't even call to apologize or to say I'm sorry," Lopez's mother Nelida Leon told Orlando's WFTV in 2014. The family was clinging to hope that Lutts would one day be found.

"If he doesn't get justice here," Leon said at the time, "God's going to punish this guy."

Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer confirmed the agency's fugitive squad arrested Lutts on Feb. 26 "on the strength of an arrest warrant issued under the Canadian Extradition Act." He's scheduled to appear in a downtown court later this month.

Anonymous tips led police to fugitive

An anonymous tip to a Crime Stoppers-type service in Florida in November 2023 first led authorities to suspect Lutts may be in Canada, according to a summary of state prosecutors' evidence in the case, filed in Ontario Superior Court as part of extradition proceedings.

Lutts was placed under surveillance and police determined he was living in a high-rise apartment building in Toronto's Church and Wellesley area.

It's unclear how – or when – Lutts came to Canada. According to Ontario court files, he has no legal status in the country and the Canada Border Services Agency has no record of his entry.

Lutts tried to cross the border from New York to Niagara Falls, Ont., on Sept. 29, 2003 — two days before a key court hearing — but was turned away due to the criminal charges in Florida, according to a police affidavit.

A Toronto resident with Lutts's name appears on a list of participants in a local 10-kilometre run in May 2005, suggesting Lutts may have settled in the city by then, while openly using his real name. Florida authorities had already been on the lookout for him for a year and a half.

In recent years, Lutts appears to have avoided using his real name online. He instead went by the alias Pat Lighthelp, including on LifeReader, a platform for "psychic readings." Lutts's public profile shows he charged $4.50 US per minute to chat with clients and provide relationship help and life coaching.

"As an empathic and intuitive psychic reader," Lutts wrote, "I specialize in providing direct insight and clarity to matters of the heart, particularly when it comes to love and relationships."

Once a month, Lutts co-hosted a popular horror-themed trivia night at a bar in Toronto's 2SLGBTQ+ neighbourhood and frequently promoted the event on Facebook.

Lutts evaded police before

Lutts has a history of evading arrest.

By the time Florida prosecutors laid DUI manslaughter charges against him for the 1998 incident, Lutts was already nowhere to be found. He surfaced again in 2002 after authorities said he was involved in another impaired-driving crash in Connecticut, according to court files.

Lutts was arrested and sent back to Florida, where he posted a $5,000 US bond and was released from custody. Public records show Lutts failed to appear for a plea hearing scheduled for Oct. 1, 2003 and remained on the lam until his recent arrest in Toronto.

"Our office is actively working on extraditing Patrick Lutts back to Florida," a spokesperson for state attorney Monique H. Worrell said in a brief email to CBC.

Canada's Justice Department, which handles extradition requests, declined to comment on the case. A Florida-based lawyer who previously represented Lutts did not respond to requests for comment. 

If you have a news tip related to this story, contact CBC News senior reporter Thomas Daigle by email: thomas.daigle@cbc.ca.