A former Marine on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted fugitives list was captured in El Salvador on Monday, more than six years after his girlfriend was found dead in a San Diego apartment.
U.S. and Salvadoran authorities arrested Raymond Samuel McLeod, 38, of Phoenix, at around 4:30 p.m., according to an agency spokesperson. He was teaching English in Sonsonate, a city in the southwestern part of the country.
McLeod had been on the run since June 10, 2016, when San Diego police responded to a 911 call about a woman not breathing in an apartment in the 7600 block of Mission Gorge Road in San Diego, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
The woman, later identified as Krystal Mitchell, 30, of Phoenix, was pronounced dead at the scene. She’d been strangled, according to NBC San Diego.
Detectives determined Mitchell was last seen alive with McLeod, leading authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest on a murder charge, the U.S. Marshals Service said. The couple were in the city visiting friends at the time of the woman’s death, according to the agency, which was asked to join the manhunt for McLeod in December 2016.
He was added to the U.S. Marshals Service’s Most Wanted list in 2017.
A “wanted” poster for McLeod says he left the state immediately after Mitchell’s death and was believed to be in Mexico. It also described him as “an avid body builder and a heavy drinker.” The former Marine has a history of domestic violence, according to authorities.
A reward of $50,000 was offered for any information leading to his arrest.
There had been sightings of McLeod around Central America over the years, including in Belize, officials said.
It was not clear Tuesday how authorities found him. Details of his capture were not released.
McLeod is currently in custody in El Salvador and will soon be brought back to California, authorities said.
Todd Miyazawa contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
