An illegal alien from Mexico who was deported last year is accused of fatally shooting and burning a Washington woman and her son.
Prudencio Fragos-Ramirez, 25, was arraigned on Monday and is being held on $1 million bail for the murders of 18-year-old Maria Cruiz-Calvillo and her 3-year-old son, Luis Lopez-Cruz, the Tri-City Herald reports.
The pair’s burned bodies were discovered in a remote area on Thursday. The two had gunshot wounds, but the boy was likely still alive when the car was set ablaze, according to Franklin County coroner Dan Blasdel.
Prosecutors allege that Fragos-Ramirez had just begun dating Cruiz-Calvillo and killed her out of jealousy. He was last seen by a neighbor after Cruiz-Calvillo and Lopez-Cruz arrived at his house in Pasco, a small town in central Washington. The three drove away in Cruiz-Calvillo’s car, which was found ablaze 30 minutes later in a ravine, according to court documents.
Fragos-Ramirez was arrested just hours into the double-murder investigation. He denied any wrongdoing but gave conflicting accounts to police. He said he recently owned a handgun but sold it to Cruiz-Calvillo. He told investigators that his brother witnessed the gun sell, but the brother denied the claim.
According to the Tri-City Herald, Fragos-Ramirez was last deported in 2014 but had re-entered the country illegally. He has a rap sheet that includes charges for DUI and driving with a suspended license.
Fragos-Ramirez is listed on Franklin County’s jail roster as a white male.
The case comes amid renewed attention on homicides carried out by previously-deported illegal aliens.
Francisco Sanchez, a 45-year-old five-time deportee, has admitted to shooting 32-year-old Kate Steinle in broad daylight at a popular San Francisco tourist destination last week. Besides the numerous deportations, Sanchez had seven felonies on his record. He was released by the San Francisco sheriff’s department in April. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has blamed the sheriff’s department in that case claiming that it ignored a detainer request to notify federal agents before releasing Sanchez.
The department declined to honor the detainer request because San Francisco is a sanctuary city. That means that local agencies are prohibited from turning illegal aliens over to federal immigration agencies.