Suspect in 2008 sword slaying who was arrested in Mexico due in court
A longtime fugitive who allegedly killed his girlfriend with a sword and fled to Mexico is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.
Jesus Humberto Canales, nicknamed “Chuey,” was arrested by Mexican authorities on Thursday after being alerted by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Authorities said detectives had tracked Canales in New Mexico, Texas, Mexico and El Salvador. Eventually, investigators developed a lead that Canales was living in a small town in the central Mexican state of Jalisco.
HOMICIDE REPORT: Explore an interactive database of homicides in L.A. County since 2007
The victim, 26-year-old Lucy Preciado, was stabbed in her apartment in the 4100 block of West Avenue L in Lancaster on July 12, 2008. Sheriff’s authorities released a 911 tape of her daughter calling for help shortly after the attack.
“Hello? My dad just stabbed my mom,” a tearful daughter told the operator. Other young children can be heard in the background, crying out, “Mommy!”
“Please. Just hurry up. I don’t want my mom to die,” the daughter cries. “Please, somebody come up and help us.”
Canales, a native of El Salvador, was booked on suspicion of murder at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood and is expected to be arraigned in L.A. County Superior Court in the Antelope Valley.
The case was featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”
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