Idaho murder suspect on FBI list
BOISE – A man accused of killing a 29-year-old mother and her two children in the Idaho desert in 2002 is the first person suspected of an Idaho crime to be named to the FBI’s list of 10 most-wanted felons since Claude Lafayette Dallas broke out of jail in May 1986.
Jorge Alberto Lopez-Orozco, 28, was named to the list Thursday morning.
He’s accused of three counts of murder in the deaths of Rebecca Ramirez and her sons, ages 2 and 4. Ramirez, who was Lopez-Orozco’s lover, was survived by five other children.
They were shot before their bodies were burned in a car in Elmore County near the Snake River around July 31, 2002.
Lopez-Orozco has ties to San Jose, Calif., Idaho, and Mexico and may have fled to Michoacan, Mexico, according to the FBI’s Web site. He may be traveling with his brother, Simon Lopez-Orozco and Simon’s wife, Maria Garcia, who have been charged with accessory to first-degree murder, the FBI said.
Putting Lopez-Orozco on the list acknowledges the FBI’s characterization of his crime as “especially heinous,” FBI agent Kevin Fryslie said at a news conference.
There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
“Once an individual reaches the FBI’s most-wanted list, this is a ‘who’s who’ in crime circles,” said Bob Wright, an FBI spokesman for the agency’s Salt Lake City office. “The purpose of the 10 most-wanted list is to bring to the attention of the public that the FBI and other authorities are looking for this individual.
“We feel this public awareness campaign will lead to his (Lopez-Orozco’s) location and whereabouts and eventual arrest,” Wright said.
Dallas, who was released last month from an Idaho prison, was named to the list in 1986 after breaking out of jail south of Boise and spending a year on the run before eventually being caught exiting a convenience store in Riverside, Calif.
Prior to that, the last person from Idaho on the FBI’s list was in 1964. Frank B. Dumont was wanted for aggravated assault.
A citizen of Mexico, Lopez-Orozco is the 480th person to be named to the agency’s list since it was established in 1950. He is described as 5 feet 7, weighing about 175 pounds.
FBI agents believe that Lopez-Orozco fled to his home country after somebody drove him to California from Idaho after the killings.
The burned 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier, with the bodies of Ramirez and her two sons inside, was found Aug. 11, 2002, by airmen from the Mountain Home Air Force Base. Each victim was shot in either the head or the chest.
Lopez-Orozco’s brother and sister are serving prison sentences at the state penitentiary in Orofino after being arrested for being accessories to murder. Elmore County Sheriff Rick Layher, who estimates his agency has spent up to $50,000 investigating the crime, says the pair helped the suspect flee.
Federal officials said Lopez-Orozco should be considered armed and dangerous.
He goes by aliases including Raul Solario, Raul Solorio, Jorge Orozco-Lopez, Jorge Alberto Orozco-Lopez and “Pepe.”
On the FBI’s Web site, he’s pictured to the left of Osama Bin Laden, the suspected terrorist accused of organizing the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Others on the list include accused Boston gang figure James Bulger, Robert William Fisher, an Arizona fireman accused of killing his family and blowing up his house in 2001, and suspected child rapist Richard Steve Goldberg.