Man extradited from El Salvador for murder charge 20 years after wife’s death in Toronto | CBC News

A man who police allege fled to El Salvador in 2004 has been extradited and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife in the city two decades ago, Toronto police say.

“It was an extreme case of domestic violence and we’re just glad that even after 20 years that we were able to locate the accused and actually bring him back to face justice on these charges,” acting Det. Sgt. Steve Smith told CBC Toronto in an interview.

In a news release issued Friday, Toronto police said the charge stems from the night of Aug. 31, 2004, when officers responded to a missing persons call in the area of Finch Avenue West and Weston Road.

Smith said in the days prior to that call, the victim — 26-year-old Toronto woman Rosaura Tolentino Ramos — had been out socializing with her husband, Juan Antonio Avalos, who was 42 years old at the time. Over the next few days, Ramos’s family stopped hearing from her, he said.

“So they called police. When police arrived at her apartment, they found that she was deceased over the past couple days,” Smith said.

The force had said earlier in a post on its website that Ramos was “obviously deceased” when her body was found and that she had suffered stab wounds.

Extradition granted

A warrant was issued for Avalos’s arrest in October 2004, but officers later discovered he left the country immediately after Ramos’s death and fled to El Salvador, police said.

At the time, Interpol issued a red notice — a request to worldwide law enforcement to arrest a suspect pending extradition or similar legal action — about Avalos.

“Unfortunately at the time, there was no extradition treaty with El Salvador, and they weren’t even willing to confirm whether he was in the country or not,” Smith said.

But there’s now an extradition treaty in place, Smith said.

Toronto police were able to get confirmation that Avalos was in El Salvador about six months ago. In February of this year, local courts held an extradition hearing and determined he should be handed over to face charges, police say.

On Thursday, Toronto police officers flew to El Salvador and brought Avalos back to Canada. The 63-year-old Toronto man now faces a charge of second-degree murder, police say. 

He briefly appeared in a virtual court hearing Friday morning.

Validation for victim

Author and physician Dr. Samra Zafar, who is a survivor of domestic abuse, said she had a mixed reaction upon hearing about the case — horror at the tragedy, and a lack of suprise considering the prevalence of intimate partner violence in Canada.

“Unfortunately this is something that happens so frequently even in this day and age,” she said.

Zafar also said she felt “gratitude and relief” that the case is now before the courts, even if it comes 20 years after Ramos’s death.

“We hear too often how these kinds of cases kind of fall off the radar and they stop looking, they stop searching,” she said. 

“So the fact that 20 years later this person was arrested and is now being charged is … a lot of validation for victims and survivors that justice is still out and alive out there.”