Assuming that Nelson had fled to the United States, Canadian police sent descriptions of him to all U.S. police stations and post offices. In the intervening days, sightings of Nelson were reported in Regina, Saskatchewan and Boissevain, Manitoba. On June 16, 1927, constables in Killarney, a Manitoba border town from the North Dakota border, arrested a man named "Virgil Wilson" who fit Nelson's description. His demeanor was reportedly so calm and cooperative that the constables assumed they had the wrong individual.