A man accused of ambushing and fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend has been extradited to Orange County to face a murder charge after eight years on the run in Mexico, authorities said.
Humberto Rodriguez Martinez, 39, is accused of working with a friend to kill his romantic rival outside his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in 2017, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. Martinez is a Mexican citizen and was in the U.S. illegally at the time of the killing, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors charged Martinez in 2017 with the murder of 32-year-old Daniel Reyes, as well as with felony enhancements for allegedly lying in wait and for using a knife. But for years police were unable to arrest him.
Martinez’s car was recovered in San Diego, while he remained wanted on a $2-million warrant.
His friend, Adan Zapot-Leyva, was arrested two days after the attack and later sentenced to 15 years to life after pleading guilty in 2023 to one felony count of second-degree murder.
Mexican authorities, working with the U.S. Marshals Service, tracked down Martinez in 2024 in Mexico, where he was arrested at the request of the U.S.
On Dec. 4, he was extradited to the U.S. and homicide detectives from the Anaheim Police Department took him into custody at Los Angeles International Airport. He pleaded not guilty to murder on Tuesday and is being held without bail.
“This arrest does not undo the pain the victim’s family has endured, but it reinforces our commitment and promise to our community: We will never stop working until justice is served,” Anaheim Police Chief Manny Cid said in a statement.
Prosecutors accuse Martinez of carrying out a deliberate, jealousy-driven murder plot.
Martinez shared two children with his ex-girlfriend and they were co-parenting for several months after they broke up. On Oct. 17, 2017, Martinez and Zapot-Leyva went to the woman’s apartment to watch the children while she went to work, prosecutors said.
She returned home around 8:30 p.m. and the men left the apartment. About 30 minutes later, her new boyfriend arrived, prosecutors said.
Early the following morning, Anaheim police officers responded to the intersection of Santa Ana and Helena streets after witnesses reported seeing two men chasing Reyes and one of them stabbing him. Reyes died at the scene.
Zapot-Leyva later told authorities that he and Martinez had watched the apartment for several hours because they knew that Reyes was inside, according to his 2023 plea agreement obtained by City News Service.
The ex-girlfriend had called Zapot-Leyva to ask where he and Martinez were and, in a “deliberate trick,” Zapot-Leyva told her they had left the area hours ago, according to the plea agreement. The goal was to fool Reyes into thinking it was safe to exit the apartment.
Once he did emerge, the men chased him down and attacked him, and Martinez stabbed him 10 times, Zapot-Leyva told authorities, according to the plea deal.
Reyes begged them to stop, saying “please don’t … I have children,” according to the plea deal.
“The pursuit of justice will never be derailed by time or distance,” O.C. Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement Friday. “We are grateful for the incredible work of our investigators and prosecutors and of our partners, both domestic and international, for their assistance in tracking down a wanted [murder suspect] and bringing him back to Orange County.”
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