Robbery suspect, believed to have faked suicide, caught in L.A.

ST. LOUIS -- A walkaway from house arrest who months ago staged his own suicide has been captured in California on federal charges that he robbed a Missouri bank.

FBI agents arrested Matthew Kevin Holleran, 25, of the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, shortly before 10 p.m. Friday at Los Angeles International Airport. Federal agents on Saturday declined to discuss the arrest or what may have led Holleran to California.

Holleran had been sought since at least Aug. 10, when federal prosecutors accused him of robbing a First National Bank in Wildwood last Dec. 7.

The federal count came 22 days after St. Charles police said Holleran tried to stage his own suicide with a female friend by pretending to jump of a Missouri River bridge in the St. Louis suburb.

At that time, police fielded two phone calls saying two people jumped from the span, where authorities found only men's clothing. When authorities checked the name of one of the callers, they realized it was an alias of Holleran, who was a house-arrest escapee facing charges of stealing, forgery and leaving an area accident scene.

When police couldn't locate anyone during a three-hour search using boats and a helicopter, they visited the first caller who reported the jumps. Holleran's 22-year-old female friend admitted the hoax, authorities said.

Police have not identified that woman, and the status of her case was not immediately known Saturday.