Jose Cruz: Virginia man wanted for killing wife arrested after being 'on the run' for 32 years

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA: A man on the run for more than 30 years after allgedly killing his wife has been arrested, the police department of Fairfax County, Virginia said.

Police officer Chief Kevin Davis said the arrest has been made in a case dating back to 1991 when Jose Cruz allegedly killed his wife.

Davis announced the arrest of Cruz on Monday, January 22, as per WUSA 9.

What did Jose Cruz do?

The Fairfax County Police Department said Cruz was wanted for the murder of 24-years-old Ana Jurado, on April 30, 1991.

The couple was married at the time of the murder, but they were in the process of divorcing. Jurado was a mother of three children at the time of her death, according to the police.

"This really isn't a traditional cold case," Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters. "It was solved virtually right away. He was on the lam. He was on the run. He avoided accountability for something he did nearly 33 years ago," he added. 

When a neighbor heard a scream and contacted 911, police in Falls Church discovered Jurado on the side of the road, according to the authorities. According to Fox News, Jurado died from "upper body trauma."

Jose Cruz fled to El Salvador

Cruz was the subject of an arrest warrant for first-degree murder. According to investigators, he ran away and lived for thirty years in El Salvador.

Cruz was arrested in 2022 while en route from Nicaragua to Costa Rica, and he was granted extradition to the US this week. In 1999, investigators went to El Salvador in hopes of obtaining information on Cruz's whereabouts, but at that time, nothing turned up.

Cruz tried to enter Canada prior to escaping to El Salvador, but was turned away because he was using forged identification, according to the police. Agents at the Canadian border reported that they saw new injuries on his hand.

Cruz then boarded a bus to Houston, where he entered Mexico illegally, according to the authorities. He eventually arrived in El Salvador from there.

According to police, the country in Central America did not have an established "mechanism" for extradition. Cruz remarried and fathered multiple children while working as a truck driver in El Salvador, according to investigators.

"We believe he was crossing the (Nicaragua-Costa Rica) border to go see some family members when he got caught," Fairfax County police Lt Col Eli Cory said. "Thirty years later, I can imagine that he probably got a little comfortable."