CAPTURE REPORT
January 8, 2002
Luis Ortiz won't be boating anytime soon.
The fugitive, who used his powerboat to try
and kill a little girl, is trading his sailing
outfit for prison stripes. Ortiz was captured
in Puerto Rico as a direct result of the hit
television show, "America's Most Wanted:
America Fights Back."
A viewer watching the show on Saturday night
saw the Ortiz story, and thought the molester
was an acquaintance of his parents. The show's
tipster checked the "America's Most Wanted"
web site to get further information. He realized
he did indeed know this man and called our
hotline providing a specific address in Puerto
Rico and a description. The hotline then called
police in Orlando who had a suspicion that
Ortiz was hiding out in Puerto Rico. So they
immediately contacted authorities on the island,
who sprung into action. When police in Puerto
Rico went knocking at his door, Ortiz did
not resist arrest and he told them, "I
am glad I am in custody, so I can get this
over with." Cops say Ortiz was living
with a woman he called his "wife"
and two kids. Police say, Ortiz does not look
like he used to, he has gained a lot of weight.
The cops had to do a fingerprint comparison
and checked his tattoos to make sure this
was their guy.
"America's Most Wanted" got involved
with this story because on March 15, 2001
Ortiz attempted to kill his girlfriend's daughter.
Allegedly, Ortiz had been sexually assaulting
the girl. Police say that the girl threatened
to tell her mother about what was going on,
so Ortiz hatched a plan to kill her. Police
say on March 15, he took the victim to the
middle of a lake in his bass boat to go joy
riding. Shortly into the trip he told the
girl to go to the back of the boat to fix
a light on the hull. When the victim leaned
over the back of the boat, Ortiz allegedly
pushed her in the water, and then, police
say, he tried to run her over with the boat.
When Ortiz was having a hard time trying to
kill the victim with the boat, cops say, he
jumped into the lake and held her under water
until she passed out. Ortiz brought the victim's
body to shore and thankfully, a Good Samaritan
resuscitated her. Ortiz immediately fled the
country.
Ortiz became John Walsh's most wanted fugitive
for 2001, and his profile re-ran on his countdown
show, which aired January 5, 2002. That airing
brought him down. He is now in a Puerto Rico
jail awaiting extradition back to Florida.
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