PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man who has been on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list for allegedly raping and killing a five-year-old girl in Philadelphia in 2000, was captured after more than 25 years in Honduras.
The FBI said it worked with authorities in Honduras to capture Alexis Flores, wanted in connection with the July 29, 2000 disappearance and murder of five-year-old I’riana DeJesus, who was abducted from outside her home on Fairhill Street.
Her body was found days later, on Aug. 3, wrapped in plastic near 6th and Pike Streets. It was only a few blocks from where she disappeared. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
Lizasuain DeJesus, I’riana’s mother, told NBC10 that the call from the FBI about Flores’ capture sent her into shock after 25 and a half years.
“That feeling will never go away, I couldn’t even talk. I was shaking,” she said. “It brings me a lot of peace, but I would also like to share that [to] never lose hope on a lot of other cases that are unsolved.”
Lizasuain said the day I’riana disappeared, she was playing outside their house in the street. When she went back to check on her, the girl was gone. She promptly reported her disappearance to police.
After I’riana was found, DNA from her body was submitted to the nation’s DNA database, and a match was found in late 2006 with Flores, who was arrested in Phoenix. However, Flores had long been deported to Honduras at that point. Flores was an initial suspect for investigators because he worked as a handy man for the DeJesus family.
For years, investigators received tips and Flores was added to the FBI’s Top 10 Most wanted list. Law enforcement sources told KYW Newsradio that it was based on a tip that the FBI – working with Honduran authorities — pulled together a car checkpoint in the small Honduran town where Flores operated.
Flores was caught inside one of the cars going through the checkpoint and he was positively identified with a fingerprint.
He is expected to be extradited to the U.S. in the coming months.