Fugitive is arrested in El Monte street-racing crash that killed three

A 21-year-old fugitive wanted by authorities for allegedly taking part in a street race last month that killed a woman and her two children was found in Mexico and arrested, El Monte police said Tuesday.

Martin Morones was found in La Presa, a community about 10 miles south of Tijuana where officials said he fled after the Oct. 8 crash. Morones, a U.S. citizen, was turned over to U.S. marshals Monday evening. He was booked on suspicion of three counts of murder and is being held in lieu of $3-million bail.

Police allege that Morones and Robert Canizalez, 19, were speeding along Parkway Drive when Dora Groce of El Monte pulled her car out of a mobile home park and began crossing the intersection with Elliott Avenue.

Canizalez’s Ford Mustang allegedly ran through the four-way stop and broadsided Groce’s car.

Her sedan was pushed at least 50 feet and burst into flames.

Canizalez was arrested at the scene.

The 41-year-old mother and her children -- Robert, 8, and Catherine, 4 -- were trapped. Authorities believe that Groce may have died on impact but fear that the children died in the ensuing blaze.

“This was a horrific, unnecessary, tragic and completely avoidable crime,” Assistant Police Chief Tom Armstrong said at a news conference Tuesday announcing Morones’ arrest.

Mexican police, who had been alerted that Morones might have fled to be with family in Mexico, spotted his car in a supermarket parking lot early Monday and followed the vehicle to a bakery owned by his aunt, authorities said.

The police waited at least six hours before rushing an attached apartment complex, where they found Morones living.

Stephen Groce, who was married to Dora Groce and father of their two children, called Morones a “coward” Tuesday for fleeing the scene and said street racing was “stupid.”

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com