Arrest follows killing of Guardsman in Murrieta

A 19-year-old man accused of murdering an Army National Guardsman in Murrieta in June 2005 was captured Tuesday in Mexico by officials from the Riverside County district attorney’s office and Mexican authorities.

Prosecutors say Fabian Urrea fled Murrieta for Mexico after shooting 24-year-old Jorge Estrada, a Guardsman on leave from Iraq, outside Estrada’s apartment during a fight over Estrada’s wife.

Months before the killing -- while Estrada was on assignment in Ft. Bliss, Texas -- his wife became pregnant, according to a spokesman for the National Guard in Sacramento. Estrada was sent to Iraq in January 2005 and returned to Murrieta in June, the day before his wife gave birth.

Three days later, officials say, Urrea confronted Estrada’s wife, Diana, outside the couple’s apartment, asking to see his newborn child. When Jorge Estrada came outside, the two men argued and Urrea shot Jorge Estrada three times in the chest with a 9-millimeter handgun, police said.

After leads about Urrea’s location emerged in the summer, he was arrested at work Tuesday and county officials have begun extradition proceedings to bring him back to California.