Witnesses would later tell police that they saw the driver of the truck walking toward the Mexican border. At that point, Ontario police sought the help of a fugitive task force led by the U.S. Marshals Service in Los Angeles.
Although the Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force is run by federal agents, it counts many local officers among its members and specializes in tracking down people charged with state crimes such as murder and other violent offenses.
Task force members began alerting their counterparts in Mexico to be on the lookout for Reyes, whose photo they had sent out along with a bulletin about his alleged crime, said Deputy U.S. Marshal Sal Reyes. Working sources on both sides of the border, investigators learned that Reyes had met with family members in Tijuana last week. They attempted to arrest him there Oct. 29 but he was already gone.
Then there were several reported sightings in the coastal town of San Felipe, where Reyes had landed a job as night watchman at a local resort.
Mexican police again tried to arrest him, but the suspect had somehow gotten word of the raid and fled into the local mountains, said Sal Reyes, the deputy marshal.
Struggling with record violence of their own, Mexican authorities seemed to be growing wary of the cat-and-mouse game, he said.
But when locals in San Felipe reported that the haggard-looking suspect had returned from the mountains looking for food and water, they agreed to make another run at him.
This time, they swarmed the town with state and local police and even brought in the military, which helped set up a perimeter with Humvees and helicopters. Mario Reyes was captured without incident. He allegedly confessed to killing Garcia, and told authorities where they would find her body.
On Wednesday, Ontario police served a search warrant on an Inglewood storage facility and discovered her badly decomposed body, officials said.
The two dozen roses that Mario Reyes had bought at Ralphs were placed atop Garcia's remains, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the scene.
Mario Reyes has been returned to the U.S. and booked on suspicion of murder.
Lee, the Ontario detective who also serves on the fugitive task force, said Mexican authorities are largely to thank for the suspect's capture.
"There's just wholesale mayhem down there right now, so we really do appreciate what they're doing for us," he said.
"The last thing they need is a homicide fugitive going down into their country, so they're anxious to get rid of them."
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scott.glover@latimes.com
