Jose Lazaro Cruz, accused of killing his partner in 1991 in Virginia, had started a new life in El Salvador. He was arrested in 2022 while trying to reach Costa Rica, and extradited to the United States last week.
An American who fled the United States around thirty years ago after being accused of the murder of his ex-wife was extradited from Costa Rica after decades on the run, report several American media including NBC News.
Jose Lazaro Cruz was accused of fatally stabbing Ana Jurado, a 24-year-old mother of three, in West Falls Church, Virginia on April 30, 1991.
Untraceable after traveling to El Salvador
Identified as the main suspect, he first tried to flee to Canada before reaching El Salvador, thus escaping the authorities. The Central American country did not allow extradition until 2000 and Jose Lazaro Cruz then disappeared from circulation.
Except that on July 29, 2022, authorities learned that he had attempted to enter Costa Rica to visit family, but was arrested.
Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, with the help of U.S. marshals and the Department of Justice, were able to request his extradition, which took place last week.
33 years on the run
The outcome of a case that the police refuse to qualify as a cold case, since Jose Lazaro Cruz was from the start identified as the main suspect.
“He was on the run, he was on the run, he was avoiding accountability for something he did almost 33 years ago,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
According to Eli Cory, deputy chief of the same county, Jose Lazaro Cruz “definitely started a whole new life in El Salvador” by remarrying, having several children and working as a truck driver.
Currently incarcerated at the Fairfax County Correctional Center, he is now awaiting trial.
Hugues Garnier Journalist BFMTV
