Featured Image Credit: FBI
Topics: Crime, Mexico, North Carolina, US News
William Morgan
A man who has fled justice for almost a decade after being wanted in connection to a brutal murder in North Carolina has been detained by the FBI over the southern border in Mexico.
Fugitive Alejandro Rosales Castillo has been on the FBI's 'Ten Most Wanted' list since 2017, when he fled the country after police sought him in relation to the murder of his 23-year-old coworker, 'Sandy' Ly Le from Charlotte.
Director of the FBI, Kash Patel, has said the suspect was finally arrested on Friday, with local federal officers in North Carolina sharing that Ly Le's alleged killer was detained in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico.
27-year-old Castillo remains in custody south of the border while officials await his extradition back to the state where the murder took place, nine years beforehand.
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In the time since, investigators said he had been able allowed to live 'a normal life,' despite the FBI's search and a $250,000 bounty.
Celebrating his arrest, FBI Director Patel said: "Alejandro Castillo’s arrest is the fifth Ten Most Wanted Fugitive captured under this administration and this FBI since last year - more than the entire previous four years combined.
"That’s no accident. When you have an administration who gives law enforcement the support to execute the mission, they get the job done like nobody else.
"This was outstanding work by our Charlotte team, FBI Legat Mexico, local and federal partners, and partners in Mexico - and we can now begin the process of delivering long-awaited justice for Sandy Ly Le’s family."
Ly Le and Castillo are believed to have briefly dated while working together at a restaurant in Charlotte, according to NBC affiliate WRAL, with then-17-year-old Castillo owing his older coworker some money.
After they split, he did not pay her back and began dating another colleague.
On the night of her murder (August 9, 2016), it is alleged that Castillo texted Ly Le to arrange repaying her. Instead, when they met, investigators believe she was made to withdraw all of her money from an ATM.
Having stolen $1,000 from his ex, it is claimed that Castillo then drove her to a wooded area and shot her in the head.
Her body was later dumped in a ravine.
One of the officials who oversaw the operation, FBI Charlotte Special Agent in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr., explained: "For more than nine years, he lived a normal life, likely believing he would never be captured, but our experienced investigators never gave up the hunt for justice.
"Sadly, Sandy’s family began another new year without her, we hope knowing her accused killer is in custody will provide some level of solace now."
North Carolina's 10th district congressman Pat Harrigan added to the voices cheering Castillo's arrest, saying in a post on X: "Nearly nine years after a Charlotte murder, the man responsible is finally in custody.
"Grateful for the persistence of FBI Charlotte, CMPD, and our federal partners who never stopped working to bring justice home to North Carolina."