A Washington state couple wanted for murder and the sexual abuse of their own children was captured last week in Mexico, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Edgar Casian-Garcia, 34, and Araceli Medina, 38, are accused of murdering Casian-Garcia’s 7-year-old-son, Edgar Casian-Garcia Jr., and sexually abusing other children in their care. The investigation into the couple began in 2020 when two of their children were found abandoned in Mexico.
After nearly two years on the run, they landed on the U.S. Marshals Service’s “15 Most Wanted” fugitive list, leading to their arrest.
Case begins with abandoned children
The story began in late 2020 when two of Casian-Garcia’s daughters, were discovered deserted at a gas station in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico, according to the NCMEC.
One of the children said she had been raped and tortured while living with Casian-Garcia and Medina in Washington. Both children showed signs of physical and sexual abuse, according to the NCMEC.
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The kids were taken into protective custody in Mexico, and six months would pass before authorities in Washington would learn about the abandoned children, the NCMEC said.
Child Protective Services officials in Washington were familiar with the family, and quickly realized that the two children had a brother, Casian-Garcia Jr., who had not been seen since September 2020, according to the NCMEC.
Couple flees the country
Pasco, Washington police then interviewed the couple at their home in May 2021 and were told that the 7-year-old boy and two of his siblings were living with their biological mother in California, the NCMEC said.
Casian-Garcia and Medina fled to Mexico the following month, in June 2021, along with five other children in their custody, according to the NCMEC and U.S. Marshals Service.
In February 2022, hikers in a rural stretch of Washington found human remains, which were later identified by police as 7-year-old Edgar Casian-Garcia Jr.. Washington police charged the disappeared couple with his murder.
The U.S. Marshals joined the investigation. In November, the agency said it would offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of each suspect, adding that they believed the couple might’ve fled to Tepic, Nayarit or Mazatlán, Sinaloa in Mexico.
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Scant details on their arrest were available Monday. It’s unclear whether the couple remained in Mexican custody, but the NCMEC said the five children who were accompanying them had been returned to the U.S..
Inquiries from USA TODAY to the U.S. Marshal Service and Pasco Police Department were not immediately returned Monday.