Fugitive in 1980 Slaying Apprehended in Mexico

More than two decades after a Central Valley fisherman found the body of a man floating in the California Aqueduct, the fugitive suspected of the killing has been arrested in Mexico and could be extradited here next week.

Eric L. Wright, a former Alameda County sheriff’s official, spent Thursday night in an Arizona jail and faces an extradition hearing Monday.

Police in the Mexican port town of Guaymas arrested Wright this week and flew him to Maricopa County on the first flight out.

In August 1980, the body of Lester Marks, 57, was found in a canal outside Tracy. Authorities say Marks had been acting as a one-man pawn shop, melting stolen jewelry into gold bars.