A 72-year-old Ohio man has been taken into custody two decades after being charged in a 2004 shooting death and allegedly fleeing the country.
Antonio Riano, 72, had been on Ohio’s “Most Wanted” list for 20 years following the 2004 shooting death of Benjamin Becarra, 25.
Riano’s story was featured on TV’s America’s Most Wanted in 2005, but he managed to evade law enforcement for nearly two more decades, even working as a police officer during his time on the run.
On August 1, 2024, Riano was finally arrested after US Marshals reported finding him serving as a police officer in his hometown of Zapotitlán Palmas, State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Riano was wanted for homicide by the Butler County Sheriff’s Office following the December 2004 shooting but allegedly fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution.
According to the US Marshals Service, the sheriff’s office collaborated with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, which then worked with Mexican law enforcement to arrest and extradite Riano. He is now being held in Butler County Jail without bond pending additional court proceedings.
“The United States Marshal Service, through our violent fugitive task forces, assists our state and local law enforcement partners to apprehend the area’s most dangerous fugitives,” said US Marshal Michael D. Black in a statement. “This arrest is the result of the ongoing sharing of information between the agencies and the determination of the investigators who refused to give up on this case.”
Dubbed “The Devil” as his story was featured on America’s Most Wanted, Riano’s trail went cold after US Marshals attempted to capture him with a 2006 warrant. They tracked him to his mother’s house in Mexico, but by the time they arrived, Riano was no longer there.
The cold case gained traction in January 2024 when the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office reapplied for the provisional warrant. At that time, Chief Investigator Paul Newton and his team used social media, including Facebook, to track Riano down. While purportedly working as a police officer in Mexico, Riano had left behind a wife and three kids in Hamilton, Ohio.
Newton stated that Riano “has been the most challenging just in the simple fact that he really dug in then and went underground.”
After the 2006 attempt failed, Riano moved again. “We really didn’t see any evidence of him until 2023,” Newton said. “I think he thought he was home free.”
Now captured, Riano is facing two counts of murder and felony assault charges for the December 19, 2004, shooting of Becarra outside the Roadhouse Bar. Police found the gun used in the shooting in a hidden compartment under the kitchen floor of Riano’s apartment in Hamilton, with bullets beside it.
Riano reportedly intervened to help a bartender after Becarra was asked to leave the premises, having been part of a fight there a few weeks earlier. As Riano and Becarra allegedly began to argue, the bartender purportedly asked them to take the dispute outside. Shortly after, gunshots were heard, and Becarra was found lying face down on the sidewalk. Surveillance footage at the time showed Riano leaving the scene, but authorities were unable to locate him.
Source: https://www.lindaikejisblog.com
