Mario R. Garcia.Photo: Mass. State Police
A Massachusetts fugitive wanted for a homicide that happened in 1991 was found in Guatemala, where authorities say he was operating a shrimp farm.
The multi-agency investigation ended on Dec. 14 when authorities followed a lead they had discovered earlier this year that led them to Mario R. Garcia, 50, at the shrimp farm in Iztapa, where he had also been living under an alias for more than three decades, Massachusetts State Police said in anews release.
Garcia had been on the lam since he was 19 years old, when he allegedly stabbed Ismael Recinos-Garcia to death during a fight in Attleboro on Nov. 16, 1991, authorities said. He was identified as a suspect shortly after the homicide, but disappeared after police obtained a warrant for his arrest.
In 2014, investigators learned that Garcia had most likely fled to a remote area of his native country Guatemala, authorities said. However, it wasn’t until 2022 that a detective discovered that Garcia might have been working on a shrimp farm in Iztapa.
The US Marshals Service Office of International Affairs, the Operations for Central America and the US Department of State Diplomatic Security Service Overseas Criminal Investigations Unit in Guatemala coordinated a team to capture Garcia, authorities said.
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Garcia is expected to be extradited to the U.S. to face prosecution in Bristol County for Recinos-Garcia’s homicide. It is unclear whether Garcia has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
“We are glad that the victim, Ismael Recinos-Garcia, will finally have justice be brought forth for this senseless murder,” Attleboro Police Chief Kyle P. Heagney said in the release. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones.”
source: people.com
