Almost 20 years after Riverside homicide, suspect present in Mexico and returned to the U.S.

After practically twenty years on the run, a person suspected of fatally capturing one other man in Riverside was situated in Mexicali, Mexico and returned to the United States for prosecution, the Riverside Police Department stated Wednesday, July 24.

The renewed seek for suspect Luis Contreras started in June 2024, when the Riverside Police Department’s Homicide Cold Case Unit reopened the case with the intent of discovering and arresting him. Detectives imagine Contreras, who was 32 on the time, fled to Mexico after he was recognized as a suspect within the 2005 murder.

The deadly capturing occurred June 14, 2005 inside a residence within the 4700 block of Doane Avenue, the place police discovered 38-year-old Alfonso Vera inside the house affected by a number of gunshot wounds; he died on the scene. After conducting a number of interviews, detectives believed Vera had tried to guard a girl whose boyfriend had begun hitting her after they bought into an argument, when he allegedly was shot a number of instances by Contreras, police stated in a press release.

Of the three suspects concerned, two have been arrested just a few weeks after the capturing. No fees have been filed for one on account of an absence of proof, whereas the opposite suspect was charged with accent to homicide and acquired a three-year jail sentence. An arrest warrant was issued for Contreras in July 2005, however his location remained unknown for a few years, in response to police.

With help from the Riverside Police Department’s METRO Team and their participation within the U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, Contreras was situated and apprehended July 8 by civil police in Mexicali, earlier than he was transferred and booked on suspicion of homicide on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Cois M. Byrd Detention Center.