Man wanted in '99 slaying of mom-to-be is extradited

By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 01/04/2008 01:11:23 AM MST

An alleged killer who hid in Mexico out of the grasp of El Paso police for nine years was extradited Thursday by Mexican authorities.

Lorenzo Lechuga is accused of strangling his pregnant common-law wife, Veronica Guillen, on St. Valentine's Day 1999 at a friend's house in the Lower Valley.

Lechuga, who was arrested on a murder warrant, was flown from Mexico City to Houston and then to El Paso aboard a commercial airliner Thursday in the custody of an FBI agent and an El Paso police officer. Lechuga's bond was pre-set at $1 million.

An El Paso District Attorney's Office investigator said Lechuga, now 31, had lived with his mother in Juárez, but was captured in February by Mexico's Federal Investigations Agency, known as the AFI, in Torreón, Coahuila, were he worked for an air-conditioner company.

"The truth was I never thought he would get caught," said Ana Guillen, Veronica's sister, who for years pushed authorities to bring Lechuga to justice.

Veronica Guillen was an eager expectant mother nearly nine months pregnant with a girl she planned to name Ashley Nicole.