A fugitive wanted for murder in California was arrested in Hampton Bays on Monday morning, New York State Police said.
Troopers stopped a Kia Sportage on Springville Road near the train station and charged the driver, who said his name was Carlos Billamarin, for driving while intoxicated. While being processed, a fingerprint indicated that he was wanted for murder in Daly City, Calif., and that his real name is Erick Morales, police said.
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The fingerprint match was from his arrest in 2000 by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Arizona for unlawful border crossing. Troopers charged the 27-year-old with being a fugitive from justice, a felony, false impersonation and DWI. He will be arraigned Tuesday at Town of Southampton Court.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s office is seeking Morales’ extradition to California, where his co-defendant, Reynaldo Maldanado, is currently on trial for the same 2001 fatal stabbing of their classmate, 15-year-old Quetzalcoatl “Quetzal” Alba.
Madanado had fled to Florida but was apprehended in 2007 after he allegedly confessed to the murder to his friend, according to The Daily Journal. After arriving with authorities at San Francisco International Airport, Maldanado attempted to escape by jumping 25 feet from a railing, injuring himself and required surgery for a broken jaw and injured pelvis, the newspaper reported.
Morales told investigators he had been renting a room in Hampton Bays while working at a Watermill restaurant for approximately four years, police said. He was also the subject of a Sept. 2008 America’s Most Wanted episode where numerous tips were received and followed up on by the Daly City police, all with negative results, police said.
