Police in Virginia say the man who killed his wife because he thought she was sleeping with another man and then ran away to another country, started a new family, and hid for 30 years has pleaded guilty.
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said Friday that Jose L. Cruz, 60, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and could spend up to 40 years in jail for the death of Ana Jurado, 24. When Cruz killed her on April 30, 1991, they were in the process of splitting up. In Fairfax County, a suburb of Washington, D.C., someone called the police because they heard a woman yelling. When the police came, they saw that Jurado had hurt his upper body. The paramedics said she was dead at the scene.
Police say Cruz cut her throat with a knife because he thought Jurado might have been having an affair.
Descano said in a statement, “When Jose Larazo Cruz killed Ana Jurado, he left behind three young children and a community in broken pieces.” It’s been more than 30 years since that terrible day, but Fairfax County has never forgotten her or her family. We will continue to work for justice for all violent crime victims.
Law&Crime earlier reported that people saw a man who looked like Cruz running away from the scene of the crime. Police quickly got a warrant for Cruz’s arrest for first-degree murder.
“This isn’t a typical cold case,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said in January at a press meeting to announce the charges. “It was fixed almost right away.” He was running away. He was running away. He didn’t take responsibility for something he did almost 33 years ago.
Eli Cory, Deputy Chief of Investigations, said that Cruz tried to cross the border into Canada after killing Jurado but was turned away because he had a fake ID. The Border Patrol official saw that he had a cut on his hand as well. Cory said Cruz then got on a bus and went to Houston, where he was sneaked across the border into Mexico. Cruz then moved to El Salvador, where he has stayed ever since.
Cory said, “We think he started a whole new family.” “He had many kids.”
In El Salvador, detectives looked for Cruz for years but couldn’t find him. El Salvador did not have a method for extradition until 2000, which made things more complicated. In El Salvador, though, he was never caught. When Cruz tried to enter Costa Rica from Nicaragua on July 29, 2022, he was caught, Cory said. Then, the process of extraditing him to the United States began, and last week, Cruz was put into the Fairfax County Jail.
“This moment has been planned for more than 30 years.” As the chief prosecutor for Fairfax County, Steve Descano, said, “For more than 30 years, a family has been waiting for answers and justice. Finally, we’re just at the start of that road.”
At the time of the murder, Cruz and Jurado had three young children. Cory praised the work of the officers who first looked into the case.
“They built such a strong case so many years ago that we were able to catch him today,” Cory said.
