Fugitive mom wanted in husband’s 2013 killing caught at US border, Texas officials say

A fugitive mother wanted in the killing of her husband more than seven years ago in Texas was caught at the U.S. border, officials say.

Maria Montalvo, 48, was arrested after she was flagged by a Border Patrol agent in San Diego, California, in May, according to the FBI. Dallas County sheriff’s deputies returned her to Texas last week.

Montalvo is charged in the killing of her 43-year-old husband Simon Montalvo at their home in DeSoto, a city about 35 miles southeast of Fort Worth, in April 2013, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office said. She’s accused of shooting him six times, including twice in the back of the head, while their two children slept upstairs, prosecutors say.

A relative found Montalvo’s body buried under a pile of rocks in a plastic bag, WFAA reported. Police say surveillance video showed Montalvo dragging her husband’s body wrapped in bags and blankets to the backyard before she’s seen covering it with rocks, KDFW reported.

The couple’s children were found in Indiana, dropped off by their mother before she went on the run, WFAA reported.

“Our agency has never stopped looking for Montalvo and now that she is in jail where she belongs, we can pursue justice for the victim and his family,” DeSoto Police Chief Joe Costa said in a news release on Monday.

Montalvo was in Dallas County jail on charges of murder and flight to avoid prosecution for capital murder with a $1 million bond.

This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 7:00 PM.