For Immediate Release

Washington – A suspected wife killer who had been added to the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted fugitive list in June 2011 was arrested today in Bologna, Italy, by Italian authorities based on information provided by the Marshals Service investigators. Miguel Torres, 42, had been charged with 1st degree murder in Reading, Pa., following the September 2005 execution-style murder of his estranged wife Barbara.

Torres’ wife had received a protective order against her husband after she moved out of their home. Torres was served a restraining order Sept. 9, 2005. Four days later, he allegedly used a spare key to enter his wife’s vehicle, hiding in the backseat until she left work that day.

When his wife approached her vehicle, she spotted Torres and attempted to flee. He exited the vehicle and allegedly shot her in the back near a county building, walking up to her and shooting her in the head.

Torres fled the scene in his wife’s vehicle, later found at a nearby parking garage. He allegedly switched to a rented van, recovered a year later at LaGuardia Airport.

Investigators from the U.S. Marshals Service recently developed information with the assistance of the Diplomatic Security Service and Italian authorities that Torres was using the alias Rene Rondon and residing in Italy. The arrest occurred at his residence there.

The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov

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