MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Close to the 10-year mark of a man's tragic shooting death in Texas, authorities said the suspect that allegedly ordered his murder has been arrested.
Authorities in Mexico announced on social media over the weekend that they detained a man that is wanted in the U.S. They identified the man as "José 'V,'" saying in Spanish that he was likely responsible for crimes related to stalking and homicide.
The FBI on Monday announced the arrest of Most Wanted suspect Jose Rodolfo Villareal-Hernandez.
The man known as "El Gato" has been wanted since the 2013 murder of a man in Southlake. The FBI said he had stalked Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa and planned for a group to kill him.
Guerrero and his wife were leaving the Southlake Town Center on May 22, 2013, when a car drove up to theirs and shot Guerrero.
The United States District Court, Northern District of Texas issued a federal arrest warrant for Villarreal-Hernandez in 2018. He is charged with interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
According to the FBI, Villareal-Hernandez allegedly holds a leadership position within the Beltran Leyva drug cartel.
The FBI then offered a $1 million reward in 2020 for any information leading to his arrest.
"His arrest is the next step in achieving justice for the victim’s family as well as the citizens of Southlake who were shocked by the brutal murder that occurred in their city," FBI Dallas Acting Special Agent in Charge James Dwyer said in a statement.
Two men, Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda and Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, were convicted in 2016 of stalking Guerrero. They were not the shooters, officials said.
Officials say Villarreal-Hernandez held a grudge against Guerrero and used a group to stalk the man as early as March 2011. The FBI also found that the same group allegedly committed the murder-for-hire of the man in 2013, under orders from Villarreal-Hernandez.
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