A man who kidnapped his 5-year-old daughter and killed her mother before fleeing to Mexico has been arrested and will be extradited back to the United States, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Ruben Fregoso, 40, was apprehended in Mexico over the weekend.
Last month, police say, Fregoso killed his 36-year-old girlfriend, Marysol Garcia, and then abducted their daughter, Daleza Fregoso, before fleeing across the border. The search for Daleza began on May 25, when authorities issued an Amber Alert in Southern California.
Earlier that day, LAPD officers conducted a welfare check in the 2600 block of South Alsace Avenue in West Adams and found Garcia's body. She had died as a result of violence, and her daughter was missing.
After the Amber Alert was issued, Fregoso's 2019 Land Rover Discovery was found abandoned near the border. Fregoso was captured in Mexico over the weekend, though details on the exact location and time of his arrest were not immediately available.
Daleza, a U.S. citizen, was located safely and is in the custody of Mexican officials.
She is expected to be reunited with her family in Los Angeles in the coming days while the extradition process is underway. Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged Fregoso under the name Ruben Fregosojuarez with one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of child abuse under circumstances other than great bodily injury or death.
If convicted as charged, he faces 25 years to life in state prison.