Slaying Suspect, Spotlighted by TV, Surrenders

Roberto Contreras Urbaez, 26, suspected of two killings in Washington, D.C., surrendered to police in San Diego Sunday, shortly after being profiled on a national television show that asks public help in finding fugitives.

Urbaez had been sought since January, 1988, in the slayings of his former girlfriend and her brother, according to Anthony De Lorenzo, an FBI supervisor in San Diego.

Jack Breslin, spokesman for the TV program “America’s Most Wanted,” said that viewers began calling the show’s hot line immediately after a reenactment of the shotgun killing of Mona and Tesfaye Shiferaw was aired.

Commentary in the show alleged that the slayings resulted from a “violent argument” between the victims and Urbaez, Breslin said.

Suspect Called Agents

FBI officials stationed at the TV show’s Washington headquarters were fielding reponses from tipsters when the suspect called at about 8:30 p.m Pacific time, De Lorenzo said.

Urbaez identified himself to FBI agents by giving his Social Security number and “other incriminating information that was not disclosed on the television show,” De Lorenzo said.

“He (Urbaez) said he was calling from a hotel in downtown San Diego and that he was about to turn himself in to a police station there,” the supervisor said.

A short time later, the FBI office in San Diego received a call from officers at the County Jail, where Urbaez had surrendered.

He was arrested on suspicion of two counts of murder and transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, De Lorenzo said.

De Lorenzo said he did not know why Urbaez turned himself in. He described Urbaez as a Howard University graduate who had become a computer specialist.

“A number of good calls from people in San Diego came in just before he contacted us,” De Lorenzo said. “Several people gave information as to where he was living and where he had been working. If he didn’t turn himself in, there is still a good chance the other tips would have led to him.”