Charlotte murder suspect on FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list captured in Mexico

A Charlotte murder suspect on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list for nearly a decade was captured in Mexico on Friday, the FBI in Charlotte said Saturday.

Alejandro “Alex” Rosales Castillo was wanted in the 2016 killing of 23-year-old Sandy Ly, a coworker at a Charlotte Showmars restaurant, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time.

Ly’s body was found in Cabarrus County woods on Aug. 17, 2016. She’d been shot in the head, according to Castillo’s wanted poster on FBI.gov.

Two days earlier, her car was found at a bus station in Phoenix, Arizona, the FBI said.

On its website, the FBI posted U.S. Customs and Border Protection surveillance video of Castillo and an “accomplice” crossing the border from Nogales, Arizona, into Mexico just after 9 p.m. Aug. 16, 2016.

Castillo, 18 at the time, was shown wearing a gray shirt and black hat. The other person wore a black and white top, and shorts.

Three suspects were coworkers, FBI said

A second suspect, Ahmia Feaster, turned herself in to authorities in Aguas Calientes, Mexico, not long after the killing and was extradited to North Carolina, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. Feaster, who was 20 years old at the time, was charged with accessory after the fact of murder and other offenses. Her case is still pending, court records show.

In March 2017, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police arrested a third suspect. Humberto Ulloa-Esteban, who was 18 at the time of his arrest, also was charged with accessory after the fact of murder, The Observer reported at the time. His court information couldn’t be found Saturday.

All three suspects worked with Ly at the restaurant, authorities said. Police said Ly was killed for refusing to give money to the shooter.

In 2020, a true-crime show on the Investigation Discovery channel broadcast its search in Mexico for Castillo. On “In Pursuit with John Walsh,” Walsh was shown joining authorities in the hunt.

The FBI offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading directly to Castillo’s arrest.

Castillo was captured in Pachuca, the FBI said on social media Saturday. Pachuca is the capital of the state of Hidalgo in east-central Mexico.

‘Delivering long-awaited justice’

The FBI provided no details about how agents found Castillo.

“Alejandro Castillo’s arrest is the fifth 10 Most Wanted Fugitive captured under this administration and this FBI since last year — more than the entire previous four years combined,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.

“This was outstanding work by our Charlotte team, FBI Legat Mexico, local and federal partners, and partners in Mexico,” Patel said. “We can now begin the process of delivering long-awaited justice to Sandy Ly’s family.”

For nearly nine years, Castillo “lived a normal life, likely believing he would never be captured, said James Barnacle, FBI Charlotte special agent in charge. “But our experienced investigators never gave up the hunt for justice.”

This story was originally published January 17, 2026 at 3:44 PM.