Escaped Venezuelan Murder Convict Captured After Second-Story Window Jump
A convicted murderer who escaped from a Venezuelan prison has been apprehended in El Paso after attempting a desperate second-story leap from a hotel window, authorities announced Thursday.
Alexis Ramon Perozo-Monasterio, 36, a confirmed member of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, was captured on September 4 by Texas Department of Public Safety Special Agents working as part of Operation Lone Star. The fugitive had been serving a 17-year sentence in Venezuela for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old child before escaping custody.
“DPS Special Agents with the Criminal Investigations Division, working in collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Border Patrol received information on a possible TdA gang member and wanted murderer who may be staying at a hotel in El Paso, Texas,” officials stated in their release.
When agents closed in, Perozo-Monasterio didn’t surrender quietly. “He attempted to flee by jumping out a window from the second floor of the hotel,” but was quickly apprehended by Special Agents waiting below, according to the DPS report.
History of Border Crossings
This wasn’t Perozo-Monasterio’s first illegal entry into the United States. Records show he has a documented history of unauthorized border crossings, with Customs and Border Protection formally charging him with alien inadmissibility in April 2023, authorities confirmed.
How did a convicted child murderer manage to cross into the U.S. multiple times? That question will likely fuel ongoing debates about border security, especially as the Tren de Aragua gang has increasingly appeared on law enforcement radar across the southern United States.
Following his capture in the coordinated multi-agency operation, DPS turned Perozo-Monasterio over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who subsequently removed him from the United States, according to the documentation.
The arrest comes amid heightened concerns about members of Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization that originated in Venezuela, entering the United States. The gang has been linked to extortion, human trafficking, and violent crimes throughout Latin America before expanding its reach northward.
“Special Agents then encountered the suspect, later identified as Alexis Ramon Perozo-Monasterio, 36, who attempted to flee by jumping out a window from the second floor of the hotel,” reads the official statement, highlighting the dramatic nature of the capture.
For now, one fugitive’s journey has ended, though the broader challenges of tracking and apprehending international criminals at the border continue to test the resources and resolve of multiple law enforcement agencies.
