The primary suspect in a 23-year-old cold case has been apprehended following a traffic stop in Ohio.
Juan Carlos Munoz, 52, had been on the run for more than two decades after failing to appear on kidnapping and gross sexual imposition charges, according to the US Marshals Service.
The Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant in January 2002 to search for their fugitive, but they were never able to apprehend him.
A task force of U.S. Marshals in northern Ohio took over the search for Munoz last year, and they assisted in his arrest on Tuesday.
According to officials, federal officers “positively identified” Munoz as he entered a vehicle and drove away from a location where they had been surveillance him.
Later, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office pulled Munoz over for a traffic violation, at which point he presented a fake Ohio ID and claimed to be another man, according to the U.S. Marshals.
Federal officers confirmed Munoz’s identity after a “swift” investigation and fingerprint collection.
Munoz was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail pending extradition to Ashtabula County.
“After 23 years of evading arrest, our task force arrested this deceptive and dangerous fugitive,” US Marshal Pete Elliott said in a statement.
“This fugitive went to extreme lengths to avoid being arrested, including assuming another identity over twenty years ago and has been living under that alias all this time.”
