Twenty years after a deadly shooting outside a bar in Ohio, a Mexican national who has been listed as one of "America’s Most Wanted" fugitives was finally caught in Mexico.
Antonio "El Diablo" Riano, 72, was working as a local police officer when the U.S. Marshals Service located him in Mexico City. He was immediately arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the tragedy from 2004.
Riano, a native of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, was flown to Cincinnati before being brought to the Butler County Jail. Court records indicate that he is accused of fatally shooting 25-year-old Benjamin Becarra in the head at the Roundhouse Bar in Hamilton. (Related: Neo-Nazi group claims responsibility for former Ukrainian MP’s murder.)
Citing Paul Newton, the prosecutor’s chief investigator, local Fox News affiliate station WXIX-TV reported that Becerra was involved in a fight at the bar several weeks before the incident and was asked to leave. He returned on Dec. 19, 2004, when Riano was helping out the bartender. Following a brief confrontation, Riano shot Becarra in the face at around 2:20 p.m. on the same day.
He fled from the bar by driving away in his van. Police officers eventually identified him through eyewitness testimonies and surveillance footage showing Riano purchasing ammunition at a nearby Walmart approximately 45 minutes before the fatal shooting.
Riano had several aliases and papers for false documentation
After police officers conducted a search warrant on a home in Hamilton, they found out that Riano had several aliases and owned "papers to create false documentation" that he could use to "obtain different identifications." They also discovered a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson Model 10 with four live rounds and two already spent, which matched with the type of ammunition he purchased at Walmart.
Newton also shared that Riano still has a wife and three kids living in Hamilton, whom he abandoned 20 years ago.
A grand jury indicted Riano on first-degree murder on Feb. 16, 2005, but he did not appear at his scheduled arraignment. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that "El Diablo" escaped to Mexico to escape prosecution.
After the shooting, Riano was placed on the "Most Wanted" list of the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. He was also then profiled on a 2005 episode of "America’s Most Wanted." Experts believe he traveled to New Jersey to meet up with family members, before leaving for Mexico in December 2004.
An affidavit in support of an extradition request was filed in 2018. However, no other actions were taken on the case until Riano’s recent arrest.
Law enforcement officials praised the collaborative work of the different departments that ended in Riano’s arrest on Aug. 1.
Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Michael T. Gmoser said that the arrest "would not be possible without the cooperation and due diligence of both the Prosecutor’s Office investigators, the United States Marshal Service, and the United States Department of Justice."
Meanwhile, Michael D. Black, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, said that the Marshals Service, through the violent fugitive task forces, assists "state and local law enforcement partners to apprehend the area’s most dangerous fugitives." Black added that Riano's arrest is thanks to the "ongoing sharing of information between the agencies and the determination of the investigators who refused to give up on this case."
Riano is scheduled to appear in Butler County Court on Aug. 12.
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