SUSPECT
IN 2002 CHICAGO SLAYING ARRESTED
Robert D. Grant,
Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI); Dana V. Starks, Interim Superintendent of the Chicago
Police Department (CPD); and Thomas Dart, Cook County Sheriff announced
today the arrest of ARMANDO CRUZ, age 33, whose last known address was
4859 South Honore in Chicago. CRUZ was arrested last week, without incident,
by members of the Mexican Federal Police in Ixcamilpa de Guerrero, Puebla,
Mexico.
CRUZ has been the
subject of an international manhunt conducted by the Chicago FBI's Violent
Crimes Task Force (VCTF) since September of 2002, when he was charged
in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with Unlawful
Flight to Avoid Prosecution (UFAP), which is a felony offense. According
to the complaint, CRUZ was charged in Cook County Circuit Court with the
March 18, 2002 stabbing death of his wife, Maria Ramirez. Evidence leading
to the filing of murder charges against CRUZ was the result of investigation
conducted by CPD Detectives from Area 1. Attempts by the CPD to locate
and arrest CRUZ were unsuccessful, as Detectives determined that he had
returned to his native Mexico, presumably to avoid prosecution.
Subsequent investigation by the Chicago FBI's VCTF and CPD Area 1 Detectives
led to the location of CRUZ in Mexico. In May of 2006, the Cook County
State's Attorney's office requested and obtained a Provisional Warrant
for the arrest of CRUZ, through the Mexican government. CRUZ' arrest by
Mexican authorities was coordinated by FBI Special Agents assigned to
the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
CRUZ is being held
in Mexico, pending his extradition to Illinois, at which time he will
be turned over to the CPD to answer the murder charge. The Chicago FBI's
VCTF is comprised of FBI Special Agents, Detectives from the CPD and Investigators
from the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department.
The public is reminded
that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a
criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of
law.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A copy of the criminal complaint filed in this case is
available from the Chicago FBI's press office at (312) 829-1199.
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