MIAMI – A fugitive wanted in connection with a fatal shooting that occurred in 2017 on Miami Beach was found by authorities in Thailand and has since been extradited to Miami, authorities confirmed on Friday.
According to a news release from the office of Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the shooting of Jose Alberto Martinez Valenzuela on Sept. 16, 2017, is believed to have been related to Valenzuela’s relationship with the suspect’s girlfriend or ex-girlfriend.
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Police said the suspect, Matthew McGowan, now 32, fled the U.S. three days after the shooting.
Since the shooting, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has been working with the Miami Beach Police Department and the federal government to locate McGowan.
The U.S. Department of State played a pivotal role in working with the Kingdom of Thailand to facilitate McGowan’s extradition to Miami, prosecutors said.
“I want to thank the government of Thailand, U.S. Department of Justice Office of International Affairs, United States Marshals Service, Interpol Central Bureau and F.B.I., for all of their assistance in helping bring Matthew McGowan back to Miami to stand trial,” Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “The amount of police work and legal complexity that goes into the international repatriation of a fugitive wanted for murder can be overwhelming but is deeply appreciated by all those victimized by crime. My Legal/Extradition Unit works tirelessly with our criminal justice partners to ensure that justice knows no geographical boundaries.”
McGown is charged with first-degree murder.
He is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.