LYNN, Mass. — A man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a Massachusetts man after more than three years on the run, prosecutors said.
Hector Radame Diaz Emiliano, also known as Nelson J. Rodriguez Figueroa and Abismael Xxxgerena, was held without bail Tuesday after pleading not guilty in Salem Superior Court to the first-degree murder of Omar Ortiz Lopez and to carrying a firearm without a license, prosecutors said.
Emiliano is accused of shooting Lopez, a 35-year-old father of four, in the head on Nov. 29, 2014, in front of Lopez’s girlfriend outside the Harbor View Apartments, prosecutors said.
Authorities believe that Emiliano, 36, formerly of Lowell, fled to his native Dominican Republic after the murder.
U.S. Marshals recently determined that he was in Puerto Rico, where he was arrested last week and returned to Massachusetts, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said.
“Hector Diaz Emiliano’s capture was an outstanding collaboration and great coordinated effort by U.S. Marshals Service investigators in the districts of Massachusetts, Puerto Rico and the foreign field office of the Dominican Republic, along with Massachusetts State Police detectives of the Essex District Attorney’s and VFAS (Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section of the State Police),” U.S. Marshal John Gibbons said in a statement. “Although Emiliano has been in hiding for over three years, these investigators persevered throughout the fugitive investigation and paid close attention to detail, locating, capturing and bringing him to face justice. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family.”
The family could not be reached yesterday for comment.
Emiliano and Lopez knew each other, said Carrie Kimball-Monahan, a spokesman for Blodgett’s office, but she did not know the motive for the shooting.
“He was a suspect fairly quickly after the murder took place,” she said. “The officers who responded to the shooting gathered evidence that pointed in that direction, and he was indicted a month after the murder. We issued a plea to the public to contact authorities if they had information about the murder or his whereabouts.”
Emiliano is due back in court on March 27.