Mason's 2003 arrest and prosecution for the 1957 murders of two El Segundo, California police officers made national headlines.
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, he was arrested and spent time in prison for burglary in that state in 1956.
After his release in 1957, then aged 23, he hitchhiked his way to California, stopping in Shreveport, Louisiana where he purchased a revolver using an alias.
Leaving the teens alive as they were, Mason then drove off in their 1949 Ford sedan, ran a red light, and was pulled over by Officers Richard Phillips and Milton Curtis of the El Segundo Police Department.
"[1] Backup units and medical personnel arrived on scene to find Curtis dead in his patrol car, with Phillips lying mortally wounded on the ground.
Meanwhile, Mason, who had been wounded by a bullet from Officer Phillips, dumped the car and fled through numerous backyards before hitchhiking his way to safety.
The serial number was traced to a purchase at Sears in Shreveport, Louisiana, under the alias George D. Wilson.
In 2002, with advances in computerized finger-printing technology, the FBI decided to expand the system to include prints collected during arrests in all 50 states.
A match based on the partial left thumb prints lifted from the steering wheel of the stolen car, came back about a man convicted of burglary in 1956 in Columbia.
He was incarcerated in South Carolina, as his plea bargain granted him approval to serve his prison sentence near his family.
In a 2003 interview with People, Terri, Gerald Mason's daughter, said, "There really aren't words to describe the range of emotions we've gone through."