TEMPE, Ariz. — A 32-year-old man was arrested in Mexico after DNA technology identified him as the suspect in a 2008 murder in Tempe, according to the Tempe Police Department.
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32-year-old Jose Juan Vergara Ortiz was arrested Friday by Tempe Police and the U.S. Marshals Service for the 2008 murder of David Lopez, 20.
According to police, on December 27, 2008, officers were called to an apartment complex on E. McKellips Drive after Lopez showed up at a neighbor's door asking them to call 911 saying he had been stabbed.
Lopez later died from his injuries.
Despite the efforts of detectives, the case went cold in 2008, however in 2014, advanced DNA technology linked Ortiz to the case.
Ortiz fled the country but in 2024 was located and arrested.
“The U.S. Marshals Service and Tempe Police Department worked relentlessly on this case and successfully located and extradited this fugitive from justice from the country of Mexico,” said Van Bayless, U.S. Marshal for the District of Arizona.
Ortiz was arrested on charges of murder and robbery.
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