A fugitive wanted for beating and strangling a man to death in Tulsa, Okla., was arrested in Basalt on Wednesday afternoon.
Federal investigators and local police say John Richard Beato, 22, killed Antonio Flores in his Tulsa mobile home in August 2007.
A warrant was issued for his arrest in June. Authorities say he has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley since shortly after the alleged murder.
“Tulsa detectives and U.S. Marshals developed information that Beato might be living somewhere on the western slope,” reads a US. Marshals press release. “Tips and other investigative leads placed Beato anywhere from Basalt to Grand Junction.”
The U.S. Marshal’s Service contacted Basalt police Tuesday night, informing them that they believed Beato was living in Basalt and working as an apprentice for a local electrician. They provided police with a description of the van Beato would be riding to and from work, and staked out places he might pass with undercover agents and uniformed local police.
Sgt. Stu Curry pulled over a van matching the description and saw Beato was a passenger.
He arrested the alleged murderer without incident.
Beato is being held without bond at the Eagle County Jail, charged with first degree murder. Authorities from Oklahoma are expected to travel to Basalt to interview him before extraditing him back there.
In other local crime news:
— A Jedi knight apparently got his license plates stolen while parked at the Snowmass Village mall Tuesday. The Colorado plates were taken along with a “Graduate of the Jedi Academy” plate bracket and a “Pittsburgh Steelers” bracket. But, of course, a Jedi craves not these things.
— Police arrested a 61-year-old Basalt man for allegedly socking another man in the face and elbowing him in the kidney while standing in line at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen. The victim told police that Gregory Lewis punched him in the eye after they bumped into each other while waiting for an Aspen Filmfest screening on Sept. 27. Lewis was summonsed for assault, battery and disorderly conduct.
— A Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office investigation into thefts from cars at the bottom of the Smuggler Mountain hiking trail netted an arrest on Monday. Authorities say they saw Luis Alejandro Garcia-Corona enter an unlocked SUV in the parking lot Monday, and then found stolen cash on him. They say the Glenwood Springs resident also admitted to stealing a $10,000 Rolex watch from a vehicle in September. Garcia-Corona is facing felony criminal trespass and theft charges. He remains in the Pitkin County Jail as immigration authorities investigate his status as a U.S. citizen.
— Two Pitkin County Sheriff’s deputies found an 18-year-old man passed-out drunk on Highway 82 late Friday night. They drove him home and issued him a summons for underage drinking.
— A verbal altercation between two SkiCo employees in an office on the Snowmass Village mall ended with a shove, and one of them, a 39-year-old Carbondale man, being arrested for harassment.
— An Aspen woman was stopped for speeding on Castle Creek Road Monday night, and police say she was drunk and carrying two marijuana pipes. They arrested Allison Jenkins, 29, for drunken driving and possession of drug paraphernalia.
— A local woman was arrested for drunken driving Saturday afternoon after allegedly causing a crash on Cooper Avenue. Hillary Carpenter, 29, allegedly failed a roadside sobriety test after the collision.
— Aspen police pulled over a Carbondale man for speeding at around 2 a.m. Sunday, and allegedly found him intoxicated. Joseph Wisner, 25, was booked for drunken driving and speeding.
— Police arrested Jeffrey Morse, 40, of Basalt, after, they say, they observed him run over a curb. He declined to perform a roadside sobriety test, but police say he registered a .229 blood alcohol level during a Breathalyzer.
— Compiled By Andrew Travers
