PIERMONT, N.Y. -- A fugitive transit officer accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife, a New York City policewoman, was captured Thursday night in the same Hudson River village where the slaying took place, authorities said.
Kenneth Gribetz, the Rockland County district attorney, said John Bruetsch, 39, was arrested just after 9 p.m. for the Tuesday shooting death of his wife, Milta, 22.
The prosecutor refused further details of the arrest.
Earlier Thursday, Bruetsch's attorney said Bruetsch might have surrendered in New York City but was scared off by police and the news media. Gribetz, however, called the report 'a publicity stunt.'
The manhunt for Bruetsch had focused on suburban Rockland and Orange counties and in New York City. Gribetz said Thursday night the transit officer was apprehended on the main street of the sleepy Hudson River village of Piermont, which served as the backdrop for the movie 'The Purple Rose of Cairo.'
Moe Foner, a Manhattan attorney, had said Bruetsch called him Wednesday and told him he was afraid he would be killed. Foner said he hoped Bruetsch might surrender Thursday.
During the search for Bruetsch, police went house to house in Piermont, warning people to stay out of nearby woods where Bruetsch, of the Bronx, was suspected to have fled.
In New York on Wednesday, police with a search warrant raided Bruetsch's apartment, seizing a .25-caliber automatic pistol, two rifles and a shotgun, Gribetz said.
Bruetsch, a 17-year veteran of the Transit Police, allegedly followed his wife, from whom he was separated, to the Piermont home of her brother, Francisco Ruiz, also a New York policeman. He then dragged her out ino a driveway and shot her four times.
The couple had a four-month-old child, who was not harmed.
Transit Authority spokesman Bill Murphy said Bruetsch was suspended, effective 4 p.m. Tuesday. Bruetsch was considered absent without leave because he was to work a 4 p.m. to midnight shift.
Murphy said he had a mixed record -- he was suspended three times for 30 days each and was close to being fired -- but also had been cited 14 times for good work.
Bruetsch joined the transit force in 1968 and his wife joined the city force Jan. 4, 1984.
Bruetsch is divorced from his first wife, Barbara, and was charged in 1978 and 1979 with violating court orders barring him from visiting her.
