Scotland Yard agents arrested a 46-year-old English poker champion Wednesday for the 1997 murder of his wife in Garfield County.
Former Coloradan Marcus Bebb-Jones was arrested about 7 a.m. at his home at 41 Merton Close, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, on a charge of murder in the first degree, concealing death and domestic violence, said Tanny McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
Members of an extradition unit of the New Scotland Yard in London arrested Bebb-Jones in the murder of Sabrina Bebb-Jones, McGinnis said.
After allegedly killing his wife, Bebb-Jones used her credit cards to lead a “playboy lifestyle” in Las Vegas, according to a report in the London Telegraph.
Since then he has become a top professional poker player, winning hundreds of thousands of pounds at tournaments across Britain, the newspaper reported.
After Sabrina’s disappearance, her husband apparently attempted suicide by firing a gun into his open mouth but escaped without serious injury, U.S. prosecutors told a preliminary extradition hearing in London.
The arrest follows an extensive, 12-year investigation by several law enforcement agencies, including the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, McGinnis said.
Bebb-Jones is in custody awaiting extradition to the United States to stand trial.
Sabrina and Marcus Bebb-Jones once owned the Hotel Melrose in Grand Junction. Her husband, who was then 34, told police his wife left the city with the couple’s then-3-year-old son after the couple argued.
He later told guests at the hotel that he was headed to Las Vegas to look for Bebb-Jones, who grew up in the area.
The couple’s son was found alone in a Las Vegas motel room Sept. 21, 1997. The next day, Bebb-Jones apparently tried to kill himself.
A rancher discovered a skull Oct. 2, 2004, near the summit of Douglas Pass in western Garfield County. Dental records were used to identify it as that of Sabrina Bebb-Jones.
