Fugitive in Murder Case Arrives to Face Charges : Crime: Richard Leos, accused in 1975 incident, waives extradition from Seattle. He is taken into custody at airport.

In a surprise move, fugitive Richard Leos waived extradition Wednesday and was flown from Seattle to Los Angeles to face murder charges in a Pacoima barroom slaying he allegedly committed 19 years ago before disappearing under a variety of fake identities.

Arriving at Burbank Airport just after 5:30 p.m., Leos, handcuffed, was whisked through the airport and into a waiting police car to be held for arraignment, which could come as early as today.

Casually dressed in a turquoise shirt, Leos, 42, smiled broadly as he was led through airport passageways clogged with travelers. He said little, except that he was not the killer who authorities say blasted a man in the head with a shotgun in 1975 when the victim refused to cooperate with robbers in a Pacoima bar.

“I didn’t do it,” Leos said softly. “That’s enough said.”

Leos, also known as Jess or Jessie Caruso, waived extradition at a preliminary hearing before a judge in Seattle. Had he fought the request, it could have taken Los Angeles prosecutors as long as three months to get custody of Leos from Washington state authorities.

“It really took us by surprise,” said Detective Ray Broker, a homicide investigator in the LAPD Foothill Division, who attended the hearing. “He said there’s no sense in fighting it. He said he wants to face the charges.”

Leos was arrested last week by an interagency fugitive task force based in Washington state, after Los Angeles police determined that he was living in a Seattle suburb under a false identity, with a common-law wife and her two grown daughters.

Leos faces charges of murder, armed robbery and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

It was Broker, authorities said, who followed up a tip to end Leos’ nearly two decades as a fugitive, under various aliases, in the United States and Mexico. Broker and Los Angeles Police Detective Rick Plows were at the preliminary hearing in Seattle on Wednesday as part of the LAPD’s continuing investigation into the case, and they immediately took custody of him and flew back.

Broker said the detectives plan to fly back to the Seattle area to see if they can find information to bolster their case against him, and perhaps find the two alleged accomplices that authorities say were with Leos during the holdup.

Authorities say they can produce a witness who knew Leos and was in the bar when the shooting occurred, who can testify that Leos was the killer.

Leos’ common-law wife said Wednesday that he has called her every day from jail, maintaining his innocence while declining to discuss with her specifics of the case.

“He is innocent,” said Ginger Rosendale. “They are going to have to prove everything. He’s told me he doesn’t know why they are taking him down.”

Rosendale said Leos waived extradition so he can confront the charges against him in court. “He isn’t fighting it,” she said. “He is just getting on with it, to clear this thing up.”