A fugitive who was featured on the television show America’s Most Wanted was captured in Mexico working as a police officer 20 years after his involvement in a shooting in Ohio.
Antonio Riano, who was on the Butler County Sheriff’s Office “Most Wanted” list, was “charged in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas” for the death of 25-year-old Benjamin Becarra in December 2004, according to a press release from the United States Marshals Service.
Riano — whom Deputy U.S. Marshals arrested on Thursday in Zapotitlan Palmas, Oaxaca, Mexico — had been working as a police officer, according to the press release.
“This type of apprehension would not be possible without the cooperation and due diligence of both the Prosecutor’s Office investigators, the United States Marshal Service, and the United States Department of Justice,” Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said in a statement.
Court records show that Riano, 72, who is known as “El Diablo,” has reportedly been “under a murder indictment since 2005” for the death of Becarra, which took place outside of the Round House bar in Hamilton, Ohio, Fox19 reported.
Paul Newton, the chief investigator for the prosecutor, stated that Becarra had been involved in a fight weeks prior at the bar, so he was asked to leave when he came back. Riano reportedly tried to help the bartender, and the two men got into an argument, resulting in Riano allegedly shooting Beccara “in the face,” according to the outlet.
Riano allegedly fled the country after the shooting.
The outlet noted that law enforcement officials were able to identify Riano as the suspect using surveillance footage, and they discovered “the murder weapon” days after Riano had left the U.S.
“The United States Marshal Service, through our violent fugitive task forces, assists our state and local law enforcement partners to apprehend the area’s most dangerous fugitives,” Michael D. Black, a U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, said in a statement. “This arrest is the result of the ongoing sharing of information between agencies and the determination of the investigators who refused to give up on this case.”
After Deputy U.S. Marshals apprehended Riano, he was taken to Cincinnati and placed in the Butler County Jail, according to the press release.
Riano was reportedly held without bond until his hearing on Monday, according to the outlet.
