Mexican Authorities Arrest Israel Mireles

By David Lohr

December 20, 2007

El Dorado, KS (Crime Library) — Authorities in Mexico have arrested 24-year-old Israel Mireles, the prime suspect in the murder of 18-year-old Emily Sander. Federal authorities in the U.S. are now working with Mexican officials to extradite Mireles back to Kansas, to face a capital murder charge for murder, rape and criminal sodomy.

"Right now he is in custody in Mexico and we are working on the extradition for him to come back," Troy Oberley, with the U.S. Marshalls office in Wichita, said during a press conference yesterday.

Mexican authorities received several tips to the suspect's whereabouts and had been monitoring his movements since Dec. 3, but would not take him into custody until they received assurances from the Kansas prosecutor's office that they would not seek the death penalty.

"The promises that had to be made if he was apprehended in Mexico instead of Texas or somewhere in the United States is that we would waive seeking the imposition of the death penalty because of an international agreement with Mexico," Butler County district attorney Jan Satterfield said.

According to Oberly, Mireles's 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Victoria Martens, was also located in Mexico but refused to return to Kansas, despite assurances from the prosecutors office that they would not file charges against her.

"It doesn't sound like she wants to return to the U.S. Our main concern was that she was alive and safe," Oberly said.

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Israel Mireles


Victoria Martens