(NewsNation) — After nearly 33 years on the run, a man who fled the country after being charged with the killing of his wife in 1991 was extradited to the U.S. to face murder charges, the Fairfax County Police Department said Monday.

Jose Lazaro Cruz, 60, was charged with the fatal stabbing of his wife, Ana Jurado, 24, in 1991 in West Falls Church, Fairfax County Chief of Police Kevin Davis said during a press conference.

In early 1991, Cruz and Jurado were married but in the process of getting divorced. On April 30, 1991, Fairfax County officers responded to a crime scene where they discovered Jurado’s lifeless body lying on the curb.

Witnesses reported hearing a scream and eyewitnesses described a man leaving the scene who matched the description of Cruz, Deputy Chief of Investigations Eli Cory said.

Cruz, then 24, fled the country through the southern border with the help of a smuggler and established himself in El Salvador. At the time, El Salvador had no provisions to extradite suspects sought by the U.S.

He originally attempted to flee the country through the northern border but was denied after being caught using fraudulent identification.

“This really isn’t a traditional cold case,” David said. “We virtually solved it right away. He was on the lamb, he was on the run. He avoided accountability for something he did nearly 33 years ago.”

Police said that detectives worked the case for years, traveling to El Salvador in the 1990s to gather information that eventually helped secure his arrest.

It wasn’t until Cruz attempted to enter Costa Rica in 2022 that he was arrested. After a lengthy extradition process, he was brought back to the U.S. and is being held at the Fairfax County jail while he awaits trial.

“We’ve never forgotten the family. We’ve never forgotten the seriousness of this crime,” Davis said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.