Man arrested for brutally stabbing wife over 30 years ago

Man accused of killing his wife in 1991, fleeing to El Salvador

Police have arrested a man in a three-decades-old murder.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - Fairfax County announced Monday the arrest of a man charged with brutally stabbing his estranged wife in 1991.

Officials say Jose Cruz was wanted for the murder of Ana Jurado on April 30, 1991.

A neighbor called police in 1991 after hearing a scream. When officers arrived, they found 24-year-old Jurado on the side of Gouthier Road in Falls Church, dead from upper body trauma.

After police issued an arrest warrant for first-degree murder, Cruz fled the country and had been living in El Salvador for over three decades. After traveling in 2022 from Nicaragua to Costa Rica, law enforcement detained Cruz. On January 18, he was extradited back to Virginia on a murder charge.

Arrest made in 1991 murder case

Fairfax County have arrested a man wanted for the brutal stabbing of his estranged wife over 30 years ago.

"This really isn't a traditional cold case. It was solved, virtually, right away," said Police Chief Kevin Davis. "He was on the lam, he was on the run. He avoided accountability for something he did nearly 33 years ago."

Police say in 1999 they traveled to El Salvador to continue their investigation into Cruz’s whereabouts, which investigators say helped lay the framework for this investigation.

"We will never forget, we have never forgotten," said Davis. "The family never forgot as well."

FOX 5 has learned Cruz has been been working as a truck driver in El Salvador and started a whole new family with a wife and several children. He left three children behind in the U.S. after allegedly stabbing Jurado to death.