Suspect in Marion Co. deputy’s death caught in Mexico

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon State Police say a man accused of killing a Marion County deputy and another man in a 2007 car crash has been arrested in Mexico.

Police say Alfredo De Jesus Ascencio, now 29, was indicted in 2007 for two counts of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Deputy Kelly Fredinburg and Oscar Ascencio Amaya. They say he fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution around the time of his indictment.

Police say the 33-year-old deputy was responding to an emergency call in June 2007 when his patrol car was struck by a car driven by De Jesus Ascencio. He died at the scene. Amaya, one of De Jesus Ascencio’s passengers, later died in the hospital.

State police said in 2010 Oregon prosecutors sought to have Mexican authorities prosecute De Jesus Ascencio in that country because it was unlikely that he would be extradited to the U.S.