Two Mexican nationals have been arrested in Mexico in connection with two separate Colorado incidents that left a turkey hunter dead and another Mexican national dead with 150 stab wounds.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced that Oscar Hoyos DeLaCruz, 50, has been arrested in the death of Jeff Garrett, 37, who was shot while hunting in Garfield County on May 14, 2005. Garrett was an assistant vice president with Qwest Communications.
Suthers said Mexican authorities have also arrested Lazaro Rey-Muro, 30, in the stabbing death of his roommate, Joel Gonzales-Lopez, who was stabbed repeatedly on Jan. 30, 1999.
“The message this sends is that you can’t flee to Mexico and get an ‘out of jail free card’,” Suthers said. “We now have processes in place that we are either going to extradite you or, as an alternative, we are going to have you arrested by Mexican authorities, prosecuted in Mexico and spend time in a Mexican prison which every Mexican knows is punishment indeed.”
Both were caught by Mexican officials and both will be prosecuted in Mexican courts. DeLaCruz could face a sentence of 12-24 years and Rey-Muro could face 20-to-60 years.
The facts of the cases are very different.
According to Glenwood Springs District Attorney Martin Beeson, who joined Suthers at a press conference, Garrett was turkey hunting and had a turkey caller which he was using. The prosecutor said that DeLaCruz heard the turkey call, shot into the bushes thinking it was a turkey, not realizing it was another person.
“Unfortunately, it is still a criminal act,” Beeson said.
Mexican authorities have charged DeLaCruz with “imprudent homicide,” similar to manslaughter in the United States.
However, Suthers said that Rey-Muro has been charged with the Mexican equivalent of what would be first-degree murder in the United States.
Suthers said that the Colorado Attorney General’s Foreign Prosecutions Unit has been responsible for 11 prosecutions and arrests since its inception in 2001. An additional six cases have been filed and their arrests are pending.
Charlotte Garrett, the widow of Jeff Garrett, expressed her thanks to law enforcement agencies.
“Mother’s Day this year marked the first anniversary of the death of my husband. For my children and me, this has been a year of tears and loss,” she said. “It has also been a year full of unbelievable blessings and love which has given us strength to persevere.”
She said with DeLaCruz’ arrest on June 15 made Father’s Day especially memorable – a day to remember her husband and “a day to celebrate that our hopes and prayers for justice were answered.”
Garrett was an assistant vice president of Qwest based in Denver.
Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner said that despite the more than seven years since Gonzales-Lopez’ murder, the police department never gave up hope of finding Rey-Muro.
“The message we would like to see come out of this is that law enforcement doesn’t quit, particularly when you have a crime as brutal as this,” Garner said.
Suthers praised Mexican authorities, but said that “many attempts to extradite out of Mexico have been flatly unsuccessful.
“I would like to see the United States renegotiate some things with Mexico in terms of extradition,” Suthers said. “But as to their criminal justice system, we are extremely respectful of the fact that other systems do things differently and we have an obligation to work with those governments to accomplish (our) objectives.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
