Va. Man Who Allegedly Stabbed Wife to Death in 1991 Is Arrested in Costa Rica After Decades at Large
Jose Lazaro Cruz initially fled to El Salvador after the killing, police allege
Fairfax County Police Department
Jose Lazaro Cruz• Ana Jurado was stabbed to death in April 1991 and her husband, Jose Lazaro Cruz, was named the suspect
• Cruz allegedly fled the country to El Salvador, police say
•After trying to enter Costa Rica, Cruz was apprehended in 2022
A man accused of killing his wife in Virginia in 1991 was arrested in Costa Rica after more than three decades at large, the Fairfax County Police Department says.
Responding to reports of a stabbing in West Falls Church, police found Ana Jurado, 24, suffering from upper body trauma on April 30, 1991, the department says. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jurado’s estranged husband, Jose Lazaro Cruz, then 24, was identified as a suspect, and an arrest warrant was issued for his arrest, police say. But Cruz allegedly evaded capture by fleeing to El Salvador, according to the department.
Fairfax County Police Department
Jose Lazaro CruzJurado had three young children at the time of her death, CNN reported.
Fairfax County police say they traveled to El Salvador in 1999 in an attempt to locate Cruz and that they gathered information on his whereabouts. He was not apprehended on that trip.
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CNN reported, citing police, that at the time, El Salvador did not have policies in place to extradite Cruz to the United States.
In 2022, the Department of Justice informed Fairfax County detectives that Cruz was apprehended after traveling from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. After a year-and-a-half, he was placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals and extradited to the U.S.
Police did not say what specific charges Cruz is facing and it is not immediately clear if he has retained an attorney.
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