Mexico Turns Over Murder Suspect to FBI

TUSTIN —  After months of frustrating negotiations with Mexican officials, a former Irvine man was turned over to the FBI for his alleged role in the 1991 slaying of a 14-year-old Westminster girl, law enforcement officials said Saturday.

Albert Garcia Guerrero, 27, was arrested Friday in Tijuana and taken to San Ysidro, where he was taken into custody by the FBI on charges of murder and fleeing to avoid prosecution, said Lt. Joseph Garcia. Guerrero is expected to appear in federal court Monday in San Diego.

Lilia Vianey Guevara was at a Tustin party in September 1991 when a fistfight broke out. The Westminster High School sophomore fled in a Jeep with some friends. Police said Guerrero fired at the vehicle, striking Guevara in the chest and killing her.

Guerrero’s brother, Ruben, has already been convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the killing and another suspect, Robert Garcia, 22, is believed to be at large in Mexico, police said.

The arrest was welcomed at the Tustin Police Department, which has been trying to gain custody of Guerrero for months. Some officers were caught by surprise when they learned the suspect was being transported to the border.

“We really weren’t expecting this at all,” Garcia said. “But it’s good news.”

Guerrero, who has been a wanted man since the shooting, was arrested in August 1995 after Orange County authorities alerted Mexican officials to Guerrero’s whereabouts. But a Mexican judge released him in September, contending that the extradition paperwork submitted to the court had not been properly certified.

The release upset Tustin officials, who launched an extensive lobbying effort to gain custody of Guerrero, including writing a letter to President Clinton, police said.

“For months, it seems like there has always been some kind of stumbling block,” Garcia said. He did not know what caused the sudden breakthrough.

Some have privately noted that the Mexican government’s cooperation comes as it seeks to have a Camp Pendleton Marine extradited for his alleged role in a drunk-driving, hit-and-run case that left four dead in Mexicali, Baja California.