Man returned to N.C. to face charges in 2000 wreck that killed a Conover man

After 15 years, Miguel Lopez Garcia was returned to North Carolina on Wednesday, where he faces charges including involuntary manslaughter in the February 2000 wreck in Catawba County that killed a 28-year-old Conover man.

Garcia was arrested in California in January. He disappeared shortly after the wreck that killed Troy Setliff II of Conover on U.S. 321 south of Hickory.

Garcia’s vehicle collided with a car in which Setliff was a passenger. He was initially charged with driving while impaired, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle and death by motor vehicle.

But while he was being treated for injuries at Hickory’s Frye Regional Medical Center, he left unnoticed and disappeared before he could face the charges.

In mid-January, Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies arrested Garcia in Palmdale after FBI analysts linked him to the alias of Rene Zavala that authorities say he used there.

Under that alias, Garcia has been wanted by Hickory police since 2004 for felony conspiracy to traffic marijuana, state authorities said.

He’s being held in the Catawba County Jail under $560,000 bond, authorities said.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Man returned to N.C. to face charges in 2000 wreck that killed a Conover man."