A fugitive who escaped from a Nevada jail 27 years ago and fled to Mexico is back in US custody

A prisoner who escaped from a Nevada jail 27 years ago is back in US custody after being captured in Mexico, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections and the US Marshals Service.

Samuel Avalos-Gallardo, 52, was discovered living in Nayarit, Mexico, and arrested in January 2020. Now, after a lengthy extradition process, he is back in the custody of the Nevada Department of Corrections to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

He had been sentenced to a 40-year jail term after he drove his car the wrong way, while drunk, onto an interstate ramp and collided head-on with another vehicle in 1992, killing the 18-year-old driver and seriously injuring two passengers.

Avalos-Gallardo was less than a year into his term in February 1994 when the Department of Corrections says he walked away from a group of inmates working on a Division of Forestry fire crew.

His capture was a joint effort involving the Nevada Department of Corrections, the Department of Homeland Security, the Mexican government and the US Marshals Service.