CE repatriates Mexican national sought for rape and murder of Juarez waitress

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have repatriated a 27-year-old Juarez man wanted for raping and murdering a cocktail waitress in that Mexican border city more than two years ago.

ICE officers from Los Angeles transported Joaquin Gutierrez Payan, a.k.a. Ricardo Manuel Gutierrez, to the border crossing at San Ysidro, Calif. yesterday where he was turned over to Mexican immigration officials. Gutierrez is wanted by Mexican authorities for raping and strangling Cinthia Irasema Ramos Quezada in December 2004. Gutierrez is also being sought for questioning as part of an ongoing investigation into the slayings of several other women in the Juarez area.

According to the Attorney General's Office in the State of Chihuahua, Gutierrez met the victim in the Casanova bar where she worked. The victim and another waitress left the bar with Gutierrez on the morning of December 3. The women went to Gutierrez's apartment briefly. The second woman then left to hail a taxi. Later that morning, Ramos Quezada's body was discovered on a street near the suspect's apartment.