A 60-year-old man pleaded guilty today (Friday) to killing his wife outside her West Falls Church home in 1991.
Jose Larazo Cruz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after prosecutors made the case at a Fairfax County Circuit Court hearing that he stabbed Ana Jurado on April 30, 1991 during an argument over an affair she was allegedly having, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced.
“When Jose Larazo Cruz killed Ana Jurado, he left behind three young children and a devastated community,” Descano said in a statement. “It’s been over 30 years since that dark day, but Fairfax County has never forgotten her or her family, and we remain committed to the pursuit of justice for all victims of violent crimes.”
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, officers responded to the 3100 block of Cofer Road that evening to find Jurado lying at the street curb with a knife wound to her neck. She was 24 years old when she died.
Larazo Cruz, who was also 24 at the time, and Jurado were in the process of getting a divorce when he confronted her outside her home in the 6000 block of Gouthier Road for having an affair with another man, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office says.
Though detectives quickly identified Larazo Cruz as a suspect, obtaining a warrant for his arrest on May 10, 1991, he fled across the Mexican border with the assistance of a smuggler and ended up in El Salvador, which doesn’t have extradition procedures, the FCPD said at a press conference announcing his arrest in January.
According to the police, Larazo Cruz remained in El Salvador for 30 years, working as a truck driver and starting a new family with “several children.”
He was finally arrested while attempting to cross into Costa Rica on July 29, 2022, but he didn’t get extradited to the U.S. until Jan. 18 of this year.
Larazo Cruz has a sentencing hearing scheduled for Nov. 7. He could face up to 40 years in prison.
When she was killed, Jurado had a 4-year-old son, who was with family in El Salvador at the time of her murder, and two daughters — a 3-year-old and a 7-month-old — living in the U.S.
