Fugitive arrested in Peru nearly 30 years after Thanksgiving Day murder in Miami
Nearly 30 years after a 22-year-old was gunned down at a Miami gas station on Thanksgiving Day, authorities have arrested a longtime fugitive in Peru who had been living under a stolen identity and working for the government as an air traffic controller.
Nicole Modrono still remembers the last photo ever taken with her younger brother, 22-year-old Jimmy Schwarz, smiling together on her wedding day. Schwarz was killed on Thanksgiving night in 1996.
"The man in my life was my brother," Modrono said. "The only man that I trusted anyway, because the role models that I had were no good."
A life cut short
Schwarz had stepped into the role of protector early in life, looking out for Modrono and their mother, Eileen Motte, in a home marked by domestic violence.
"He always thought he needed to protect us and be with us and make sure that we were okay," Modrono recalled. "Because he felt like at 10 years old, he felt like he was the man of our family."
The family's final memory of Schwarz is from Thanksgiving dinner that year. He left afterward to see friends and never came home.
"I didn't even think once that something so tragic could happen on such a day," said Modrono. "But I didn't get up, and I didn't hug him and I didn't kiss him goodbye."
According to investigators, Schwarz was at a Mobil gas station on the 3200 block of NW 79th Street when he got into an argument with a man who deputies say was a gang member. That man pulled out a gun and shot him.
"My brother would've been a good man, and it hurts me that he didn't have a chance to do that," said Modrono.
A break in the case
For nearly three decades, Schwarz's family held onto fading hope that there would one day be an arrest. That hope was renewed last week.
Authorities in Peru arrested 49-year-old Christian Miguel Orosco, the man Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office detectives say was identified by witnesses as Schwarz's killer. After the shooting, Orosco vanished and assumed a new identity: Eduardo Enrique Albarracín Trillo.
"We do believe that that individual was a member of the military here in Peru," said Det. Jonathan Grossman. "After that person left or passed, Mr. Orosco used that identity and continued to use that identity up until the time he was arrested here."
Detectives said Orosco worked for the Peruvian government for decades, most recently as an air traffic controller.
"They're not very proud of the fact that this guy was able to dupe them the way he did," said Det. Juan Segovia, "and work for their government for almost 30 years."
The arrest was made possible after a tipster contacted Peruvian authorities, who reached out to U.S. law enforcement. Orosco's identity was confirmed through fingerprint records.
"Thank you for not forgetting"
While Orosco's extradition could take up to a year, Schwarz's family says they are grateful someone never gave up on the case.
"Thank you for caring, thank you for getting him," said Modrono. "I'm so grateful that someone still had my brother on their mind."
Detectives say they are now working with Peruvian officials to learn how Orosco obtained the false identity and how he escaped the U.S. after the murder.
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