A Mexican national accused of gunning down a Riverside man who tried to stop the defendant’s friend from beating a woman, then fleeing south of the border and hiding out for nearly two decades, pleaded not guilty Friday to second-degree murder.
Luis Contreras, 50, was arrested last month by Mexican National Police in Mexicali at the request of U.S. Marshals.
Contreras was arraigned Friday before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gail O’Rane, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Nov. 12 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
According to Riverside Police Department spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback, Contreras allegedly killed 38-year-old Alfonso Vera on June 14, 2005.
Railsback alleged Contreras was partying with the victim and others at a house in the 4700 block of Doane Avenue, near Wells Avenue, when one of the defendant’s associates became enraged with his girlfriend, whose identity was not disclosed.
The man struck the woman, and “Mr. Vera intervened to protect her,” Railsback said.
Contreras pulled a handgun and shot Vera for interfering, the police spokesman alleged.
The defendant, his friend and another person fled the location immediately afterward, speeding away in two separate cars, according to Railsback.
One of the two men who left with Contreras was ultimately charged and convicted of being an accessory to murder. He received a three-year prison sentence. The other individual was not charged with a crime. Neither man was identified.
Railsback alleged Contreras fled to Mexico and remained there.
The murder investigation was inactive until the police department’s Cold Case Unit resumed searching for the defendant, with the help of the U.S. Marshals Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force. The investigation pointed to Contreras’ likely whereabouts, and Mexican National Police were asked to serve a fugitive warrant and take him into custody, which they did without incident on July 8.
The defendant has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County