Man accused of 2004 Houston murder extradited from Mexico

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Almost 18 years after the shooting death of a 31-year-old man in southwest Houston, his accused killer was finally caught and is now in Harris County jail.

The video above is ABC13's livestream.

Antonio Balencia Davalos, 53, was brought back to Houston on July 22 and charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Santiago Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was killed on Aug. 19, 2004, as he had just returned to his apartment in the 6300 block of Windswept Lane with his family. Witnesses at the time said they saw Davalos drive up and get out of his truck to confront Gonzalez, who was outside a family member's apartment.

After a brief fight, Davalos pulled out a gun and fired several shots at Gonzalez. Davalos then fled the scene.

Following the shooting, Houston Police Department homicide detectives said they filed a warrant for Davalos' arrest, but later learned he had fled to Mexico.

Years later, in January 2015, HPD learned new information about Davalos' whereabouts but could not extradite him back to Harris County.

In September 2020, authorities started working on new efforts to find Davalos and extradite him to Harris County.

Now that he's in Harris County, Davalos will stand trial for his accused involvement in Gonzales' murder.

"Bringing fugitives back to Harris County shows that we will do whatever it takes to get justice for a victim's family," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "Our law enforcement partners worked hard to find, detain and extradite this accused killer, and our prosecutors will work just as hard to get the right result in a court of law."