Love triangle homicide suspect extradited again to California after 8 years on the run in Mexico: officers | EUROtoday

A 39-year-old man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s new associate in 2017 has been extradited from Mexico and charged with homicide following a years-long investigation.

Humberto Rodriguez Martinez is accused of fatally stabbing 32-year-old Daniel Reyes in Anaheim, California, 9 years in the past, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office stated Friday. But prosecutors stated he fled to Mexico following Reyes’ loss of life, resulting in a years-long search that resulted in 2024.

Martinez now faces “one felony count of murder, one felony enhancement of special circumstance lying in wait, and one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon, a knife,” the district legal professional’s workplace stated.

“This arrest does not undo the pain the victim’s family has endured, but it reinforces our commitment and promise to our community: we will never stop working until justice is served,” Anaheim Police Chief Manny Cid stated in a press release.

Martinez pleaded not responsible Tuesday and is being held with out bail. The Independent has contacted the protection attorneys listed on Martinez’s public court docket data for remark.

Prosecutors stated the incident unfolded on October 17, 2017, when Martinez went to his ex-girlfriend’s residence to look at their two kids whereas she went to work. Martinez was accompanied by his good friend, Adan Zapot-Leyva, in keeping with prosecutors.

Martinez and the girl had damaged up a number of months earlier, however had been nonetheless co-parenting, prosecutors stated.

The two males left the residence round 8:30 p.m., when the girl arrived again residence, investigators stated. Reyes, who was courting Martinez’s ex-girlfriend on the time, then got here to the residence about half-hour later.

Early the next morning, Anaheim police had been known as to a close-by intersection, the place witnesses claimed two males had been chasing Reyes, and certainly one of them was stabbing him, prosecutors stated. Responding officers discovered Reyes lifeless with a number of stab wounds.

Prosecutors stated Martinez fled to Mexico quickly afterward, whereas Zapot-Leyva was arrested two days later. Zapot-Leyva pleaded responsible to 1 felony rely of second-degree homicide in 2023 and was sentenced to fifteen years in jail, in keeping with the district legal professional’s workplace.

A $2 million warrant was out for Martinez’s arrest, and in 2024, he was positioned by Mexican authorities and arrested “at the request of the United States,” prosecutors stated. He was extradited to California on December 4, 2025.

Martinez is a Mexican citizen who was within the U.S. “illegally at the time of the murder,” prosecutors stated.

“The pursuit of justice will never be derailed by time or distance,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer stated in a press release. “The long arm of Orange County law enforcement reaches to every corner of the earth to ensure the full weight of the law is felt by those who commit the most heinous acts of violence against other human beings.”