A Marine veteran who was one of the US Marshals’ most-sought fugitives was busted in El Salvador this week after more than six years on the run.
Raymond “RJ” McLeod, 36, is thought to have fled the US immediately after his new girlfriend Krystal Mitchell, 30, was found beaten to death while the pair visited friends in San Diego, Calif., in June 2016.
Last year, the Marshals Service intensified the hunt — making him the first-ever fugitive on its “15 Most Wanted” list with a $50,000 reward.
Raymond “RJ” McLeod was busted in El Salvador on Monday, more than six years after he was accused of killing his girlfriend US Marshals / San Diego DA
Raymond “RJ” McLeod was the first fugitive on the US Marshals’ “Most Wanted” list to be subject to a $50,000 reward. US Marshals“McLeod poses a significant threat to the public and must be brought to justice,” the marshals’ then-director, Donald Washington, said at the time.
His wanted poster described him as a 5-foot-11, 245-pound “avid bodybuilder and a heavy drinker” with “a history of domestic violence,” warning he was likely armed and dangerous.
The Marine vet is an “avid bodybuilder and a heavy drinker” with “a history of domestic violence,” his wanted posted warned. US Marshals
The “avid bodybuilder” was 245 pounds and likely armed and dangerous, his wanted poster warned. US MarshalsThe murdered woman’s mother, former detective Josephine Wentzel, came out of retirement to join the hunt as McLeod was traced traveling through Mexico and parts of Central America.
McLeod was traced to Guatemala in 2017 and then Belize the next year, but always kept one step ahead of the search teams.
A tip finally traced him to a school in Sonsonate, about 40 miles west of El Salvador’s capital, where McLeod was teaching English, a spokesperson confirmed to The Post.
The fugitive was busted Monday after a tipster revealed he was teaching English in El Salvador, the Marshals Service said. US Marshals
The tipster is potentially eligible to collect the $50,000 reward, the spokesperson said.
Deputy Marshals Francisco Barajas and Luis Ramirez flew down to El Salvador to assist local and national police arrest him Monday afternoon, officials told Fox News. The pair are bringing him back to the US, Fox News said.
“WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!!” Mitchell’s mother, Wentzel, wrote on Facebook Monday, while praising the Marshals’ “excellent work.”
“I have had faith and trust in them, and ever since meeting Francisco Barajas, I had full confidence that this day would come, and he would be the one to catch him,” she told Fox News.
“I told him, ‘You are my hero. We are bonded for life.’”
Krystal Mitchell had only been dating McLeod for weeks when she was murdered during a trip to San Diego, California, in June 2016. Courtesy of Josephine WentzelIt was a victory for the service, which had vowed to “leave no stone unturned until he is brought to justice.”
“The passage of time will never deter the Marshals’ fugitive investigation for McLeod,” Marshal Steve Stafford said last year.
“If anything, it fuels our determination.”
