Man wanted in 2000 fatal Catawba County wreck apprehended in California
A man wanted in connection with a fatal Catawba County wreck 15 years ago has been apprehended in California, N.C. authorities said this week.
Miguel Lopez Garcia disappeared shortly after the February 2000 wreck on U.S. 321 that killed Troy Setliff II, 28, of Conover. Garcia was driving on U.S. 321 south of Hickory near N.C. 127 when his vehicle collided with the one in which Setliff was a passenger.
The State Highway Patrol charged Garcia at the time with driving while intoxicated, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle and death by motor vehicle. Garcia left Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory, where he’d been treated for injuries from the wreck, and disappeared before he could face the charges, authorities said.
Garcia was arrested Friday by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in Palmdale, after FBI analysts linked him to the alias he used there, Rene Zavala.
Under the alias, Garcia also has been wanted by Hickory police since 2004 for felony conspiracy to traffic marijuana, said Keith Acree, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Public Safety.
Garcia will be extradited to North Carolina to be prosecuted, Acree said.
Joe Marusak: 704-358-5067, @jmarusak
This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Man wanted in 2000 fatal Catawba County wreck apprehended in California."