A sushi chef suspected of fatally stabbing his girlfriend with one of his knives in a Mexico City taxi was deported to Mexico Tuesday after authorities arrested him in Baldwin Park earlier this month.
Julio Cesar Reyes-Rodriguez, 42, was placed in the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General's office at the San Ysidro point of entry Tuesday.
"As this case makes clear, violent fugitives who believe they can evade justice by fleeing to the U.S. will find no refuge here," said David Jennings, field office director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations in Los Angeles.
Reyes-Rodriguez was riding in a taxi in February, when he started arguing with Claudia Contreras Mendieta, 36, who was his girlfriend at the time, ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said.
When the driver noticed blood on Mendieta's face in his rearview mirror, he pulled the car over to help. She had been stabbed and her face was slashed.
Before Reyes-Rodriguez took off, he allegedly stabbed the driver as well.
Despite efforts to revive Mendieta, she died at the scene.
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Mexican law enforcement officials believe Reyes-Rodriguez, who worked as a sushi chef at the time, used one of his knives to stab the victims.
Haley said it was unclear what triggered Reyes-Rodriguez to allegeldy resort to violence.
After the Mexican Attorney General's Office found information indicating Reyes-Rodriguez might be hiding in the Los Angeles area, they contacted ICE to help locate him.
ICE officers worked with the FBI's Fugitive Task Force to find Rodriguez-Reyes.
Agents surrounded the suspect outside a Baldwin Park apartment on July 1, where they arrested him.
Reyes-Rodriguez has been deported twice before, most recently in 2003, ICE officials said.
A warrant for Reyes-Rodriguez's arrest was issued in May by the Mexican Attorney General's Office. He will face murder charges in Mexico.
"This suspect will now be held accountable if the courts find he did indeed commit this brutal crime," Jennigs said.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Reyes-Rodriguez's place of arrest as Baldwin Hills. It is Baldwin Park.
