Mexico arrests suspect in '07 Ohio deaths

SHARONVILLE, Ohio, April 22 (UPI) -- Authorities say the suspect arrested in the 2007 slayings of four undocumented immigrants in rural Ohio will stand trial in Mexico.

Mexican authorities have arrested Santiago Moreno, 34, on charges he beat and stabbed the four men to death in a house in Sharonville where he and the victims lived while working for a masonry company.

Mexican law allows for the prosecution of Mexicans charged with crimes committed in other countries and refuses to extradite suspects wanted in death-penalty cases.

The slayings and the inability to identify a suspect early on stirred up fears the men had been killed in a hate crime, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Wednesday.

Investigators, however, concluded the killing stemmed from a robbery instead.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters told the newspaper Moreno had been identified as the culprit several months ago, but his office could not publicly reveal his name while it arranged his arrest by Mexican authorities.

"If he knew he had been targeted as the offender, we were convinced that we would never catch him," Deters said.

The Enquirer said Moreno faced 60 years in a Mexican prison.