FBI: Murder and rape suspect extradited from Mexico to Washington state, after deportation
May 19, 2025, 5:03 AM | Updated: 5:47 am
The FBI seal is displayed. (Photo: Jenny Kane, The Associated Press)
(Photo: Jenny Kane, The Associated Press)
A man accused of murdering and raping multiple women in Washington state in 2002 has been extradited from Mexico and will face trial in Pierce County, the FBI announced Monday.
Miguel Angel Urbano-Vazquez was taken into custody without incident in Chimalhuacán, México, on March 14, 2023, following a years-long investigation. He was returned to the United States last week and is now facing charges related to the 2002 murder and rape of Sharon Van Gilder, as well as the rapes of three other individuals the same year.
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The cases went unsolved for a decade until 2012, when DNA evidence linked Urbano-Vazquez to all four cases, according to a statement from the FBI’s Seattle Field Office. A local warrant was issued that year, but law enforcement later determined he had been deported to Mexico.
“This extradition should send a message to those who commit violence in our communities: you can run, but you can’t hide,” Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington said in the statement.
The FBI credited its legal attaché in Mexico City, Mexican federal and state authorities, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington for coordinating the extradition. Urbano-Vazquez will be tried in the Superior Court of Washington for Pierce County.
