A man wanted in connection with a 2019 murder in Palmetto was found in Mexico and has been extradited to stand trial, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
Irving Zuniga, 27, was taken into custody in Mexico City Jan. 10 following a multi-agency investigation.
He was transported that day back to Manatee County, where he was booked into the Manatee County Jail on charges of second-degree murder.
On the morning of June 29, 2019, deputies found the body of 18-year-old Jesus Molina with a gunshot would to the head, lying in the grass in the 1200 block of 61st Street East in Palmetto.
Detectives say Zuniga and Molina were outside a residence in the 1200 block of Martin Luther King Place when the two began to argue.
During the confrontation, the sheriff’s office said Zuniga shot Molina in the head and later transported Molina’s body and left it along the roadside in a remote area.
A warrant was issued for his arrest but Zuniga evaded capture. Detectives later learned he had fled Manatee County and was living in Mexico.
Last week, investigators received information placing him in Mexico City. With the assistance of local police, FBI agents apprehended Zuniga. He was deported to Miami, where MCSO detectives and FBI task force members took him into custody before transporting him back to Manatee County.
Zuniga is being held with no bond.
Source: ABC News 7
