Drug lord Ernesto “Don Neto” Fonseca Carrillo, who was convicted in the 1985 killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, was freed from prison after completing his 40-year sentence, a federal agent confirmed late Wednesday.
Fonseca, 94, had been serving the remainder of his sentence under home confinement outside Mexico City since being moved from prison in 2016. The federal agent, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said he was released last weekend.
The co-founder of the Guadalajara Cartel along with Rafael Caro Quintero, Fonseca was convicted in the kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.
Headed to a luncheon with his wife, Mika, on Feb. 7, 1985, Camarena, then 37 years old, was surrounded by five armed men who threw him into a car and sped away, according to the DEA. He had been due to transfer back to the U.S. just three weeks later.
About a month after he disappeared, Camarena’s body was found on a ranch about 60 miles away, according to the DEA. He had been tortured.
Caro Quintero, who was also convicted in the murder, was one of 29 cartel figures Mexico sent to the United States in February.
It was not immediately clear if the United States would also seek Fonseca, who is listed on the DEA website as a fugitive for “kidnapping and murder of a federal agent.”
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Fonseca was arrested in Puerto Vallarta in 1985.
Camarena, a father of three sons, was living in Guadalajara, Mexico, with his family working as an undercover DEA agent, his son told CBS News in a 2017 interview. He had been stationed there for four years on the trail of the country’s biggest marijuana and cocaine traffickers.
Cara Tabachnick
contributed to this report.