Mexican police officer discovered to be US murder fugitive 'El Diablo' 20 years later.
For two decades, the Ohio fugitive remained elusive to authorities and was featured on 'America's Most Wanted'.
A fugitive who had fled to Oaxaca, Mexico, 20 years after allegedly shooting a man dead outside an Ohio bar was discovered by American detectives through social media. It was learned that he had taken on an unexpected new job as a police officer.
On Thursday, Antonio "El Diablo" Riano, who is now 62 years old, was arrested in Zapotitlan Palmas and subsequently handed over to U.S. Marshals in Mexico City for first-degree murder charges, as stated in a news release by the agency.
The U.S. Marshals office stated that Riano, who was arrested in Mexico, was discovered to be working as a local police officer. A photo captured of the suspect as he was being taken into custody shows him wearing his police uniform.
At the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, a 62-year-old man was arrested. When asked by a WKRC-TV reporter why he became a police officer, he replied in Spanish, "I wanted to help the people of Mexico."
He denied killing Becarra when questioned by the station.
The outlet was informed by police that obtaining an indictment for Riano was straightforward. According to Butler County sheriff's deputies, security footage revealed Riano purchasing bullets a few hours before the shooting at a nearby Walmart, and the murder weapon was discovered hidden under the floorboards in his Ohio residence.
"Mark Henson, a detective who worked on the case in 2004, stated to WKRC that they had all the evidence they required and had a direct indictment against the suspect. They only needed to wait for him to be found."
Henson stated that he followed Riano to New Jersey, where he had a sibling, before learning that he had escaped to his hometown of Oaxaca. "I must admit, at that moment, I was questioning whether we would ever see him again," Henson shared with WKRC-TV.
Riano was on the Butler County Sheriff's Office "Most Wanted" list and featured on an episode of "America's Most Wanted" before his capture.
In January of this year, the authorities began actively searching for Riano, as stated by Paul Newton, a former deputy on the case who now works for the Butler County Prosecutor's Office.
They discovered his Facebook page and learned that he was now a police officer with the Zapotitlan Palmas Police Department and residing in Oaxaca.
"I exclaimed, 'Wow, it's him!'" Newton said to WKRC. "He looked a bit older and grayer, but it was definitely him."
Riano, who fled the country and left his wife and three children behind in Ohio, has been arrested and extradited, WKRC reported.
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