Puerto Rico ‘most wanted’ homicide fugitive arrested in North Carolina

YOUNGSVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — A “highly dangerous” fugitive accused of murder in Puerto Rico has been arrested in Franklin County, according to multiple agencies.

Maytiel Jamar Negron-Guevarez, 32, was arrested on Friday morning in a U.S. Marshals operation with assistance from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Puerto Rico Violent Offenders Task Force.

Negron-Guevarez is in a local jail where he awaits extradition back to Puerto Rico where police have been searching for him the last four years.

On March 27, 2020, Court Judge Aida E. Melendez Juarbe issued an arrest warrant against Negron-Guevarez on charges of weapons offenses and first-degree murder, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Franklin County Sheriff Kevin White posted a statement about the arrest, calling Negron-Guevarez “one of the nastiest hombres around.”

According to the sheriff’s office, deputies in Franklin County were called in to assist in the pursuit of Negron-Guevarez. His car was stopped along Cedar Creek Road at the Cedar Creek Landscape Supply store.

Negron-Guevarez was pulled over and then attempted to run away from law enforcement officers.

“Luckily, thanks to the swift work of Corporal Callahan and K-9 Deputy Cooper this morning, this animal is off the world stage once and for all,” said Sheriff White.

In his statement, the sheriff also said, “the dude found himself at the top of Puerto Rico’s Top 10 Most Wanted List.” A video posted in 2020 on YouTube backs up this claim as Negron-Guevarez was featured in a public broadcast by Puerto Rican police called “Los Más Buscados,” which translated to English is “The Most Wanted.”

In the 2020 video, police referred to a single murder. Negron-Guevarez, 28 at the time, was accused of killing a man by repeatedly shooting him in the head in the town of Dorado, Puerto Rico. For this murder charge, a judge in Puerto Rico issued a $1,750,000 bond.

Sheriff White, however, said Negron-Guevarez has been on the run after “heinously murdering two innocent individuals. Why he chose to seek refuge in Franklin County, North Carolina only the good Lord knows.”

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