Fugitive Bridegroom Extradition From Mexico To U.S. May Take A Year

BURBANK, IL — Arnoldo Jimenez – one of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives – life on the run came to an end last Thursday in Monterrey, Mexico.

The former fugitive is now awaiting extradition from a Mexican jail to Chicago, where he will stand trial in the stabbing death of his bride, Estrella Carrera, 26, in May 2012. He is likely to be back on U.S. soil before the end of the year, said someone with knowledge of the case.

On May 13, 2012, Burbank police found Estrella Carrera deceased in her condo less than 48 hours after getting married. According to police reports, the couple got married on the spur of the moment at Chicago City Hall a few days before her body was found. After the quickie ceremony, the newlyweds dined at a Chicago restaurant with a small group of family and friends before boarding a party limo for a club. The couple was last seen in the early morning hours of May 12, 2012.

>>> Fugitive Groom Captured In Mexico After 12 Years On The Run: FBI

The next day, her family members became concerned when Carrera, a devoted mother, did not come by to pick up her two young children and called Burbank police. She was found dead in the bathtub during a well-being check still wearing the silver sequined dress she got married in. Jimenez, the father of their youngest child, was nowhere to be found.

Burbank police said that Jimenez had a history of domestic violence, although not with Carrera.

Jimenez's last contact on U.S. soil came at 10:30 p.m. May 13, 2012, in Hidalgo, Tex., on the U.S.-Mexico border, cell phone records show.

A Cook County Medical Examiner autopsy report determined that Carrera died of multiple stab wounds and ruled her death a homicide. Jimenez was charged with first-degree murder by the Circuit Court of Cook County, and a state warrant was issued for his arrest on May 15, 2012.

A federal arrest warrant was issued by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on May 17, 2012, after Jimenez was charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

During his run for the border, federal authorities said Jimenez contacted his sister, telling her that he had a “bad fight” with Carrera and left her bleeding. Jimenez is also said to have had another conversation with a “close associate” stating that he was leaving Illinois and to tell law enforcement he was going to Mexico. Authorities said Jimenez' parents live in Mexico.

Jimenez was the 522nd fugitive to be added to the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List in 2019. As a further enticement, the FBI offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to Jimenez's capture and conviction, with instructions to contact the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

Carrera was the mother of an 8-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. During her funeral at St. Rita of Cascia Parish in Chicago, mourners wore black T-shirts bearing a photo of Carerra and the words “In Loving Memory,” along with her birth and death dates, according to news reports.

An uncle recalled Carrera as a friendly little girl and said the entire family was “destroyed.”

Another friend who knew Carrera from school events where their daughters were in the same class, claimed the young mother had expressed reservations about marrying Jimenez.

“She was saying the reason she was getting married is that he was going to take her kids from her,” the friend said. “She was really scared, and that was the last time I talked to her.”

During Jimenez’s 12 years on the lam, the FBI continued to receive tips as to his whereabouts, who was believed to be in Durango, Mexico, specifically in the area of Santiago Papasquiaro. He was also known to frequent Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the FBI said.

FBI Chicago, FBI San Antonio, the FBI's Legal Attaché in Mexico City, and the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois collaborated to locate Jimenez.

Jimenez was arrested without incident by agents of the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), in conjunction with Interpol. It may be months before he is extradited back to Chicago.

Jimenez was not the only “top tenner” to be arrested last week by the FBI.

Donald Eugene Fields, II, of the St. Louis Metro Area, was picked up Jan. 25 in Lady Lake, Fla., on a routine traffic stop. Police there said the license plate was not registered to the vehicle he was driving.

“Two in a week is pretty wild,” Patch was told by someone with knowledge of the case.

Fields, II, 60, was federally indicted in St. Louis on Dec. 7, 2023 on one count of child sex trafficking. The indictment accused Fields, II, of knowingly attempting to recruit, entice, provide, patronize, and solicit a minor into engaging in a commercial sex act from about January 2013 until June 2017.

The 531st fugitive added to the Ten Most Wanted List, Fields is also facing charges including statutory rape, statutory sodomy, child molestation, and witness tampering in Franklin County Circuit Court in Missouri.

A warrant for his arrest was issued by the Missouri court after Fields II vacated his home and failed to show up for a March 3, 2022, hearing, court records show.

The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list was established in March 1950. Of the total, 495 fugitives have now been apprehended or located—163 of them as a result of citizen tips.

Over the 12 years Jimenez spent looking over his shoulder, Burbank police and the Chicago FBI never stopped fighting to bring some semblance of justice for Estrella and her children.