PACHUCA, MEXICO – A man who spent almost ten years evading authorities after allegedly killing a young North Carolina woman is finally in custody after the FBI tracked him down in central Mexico.
Alejandro Rosales Castillo, who had been on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list since October 2017, was arrested Friday in Pachuca, a city in Mexico’s Hidalgo state. The capture brings some measure of closure to the family of Truc Quan “Sandy” Le, a 23-year-old woman whose body was discovered in Cabarrus County back in August 2016.
Le vanished on August 9, 2016, after agreeing to meet a coworker at a gas station to collect $1,000 he owed her. When she failed to return home, her family reported her missing. Her abandoned vehicle was found shortly after, and her body was discovered on August 17 in a remote area.
Investigators quickly zeroed in on Castillo as their prime suspect, but he managed to flee before they could make an arrest. For years, the case went cold while Castillo remained a ghost, his face plastered on wanted posters across the country.
FBI Director Kash Patel acknowledged the significance of the arrest in a statement. “This arrest finally opens the door to long-overdue justice for Sandy Ly Le’s family,” Patel said.
Two other individuals were previously charged in connection with Le’s death. Ahmia Feaster initially fled to Mexico but eventually turned herself in and was extradited back to North Carolina. Felipe Ulloa was charged as an accessory after the fact of murder in March 2017.
Castillo is now awaiting extradition to North Carolina, where he’ll face murder charges. The case demonstrates that investigators never stopped working to bring Le’s alleged killer to justice, even when the trail seemed to have gone cold.
