Samuel Ramirez Jr. lasted one hour and thirteen minutes on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. That's it. The 33-year-old, wanted for his alleged involvement in the murders of two women at a bar in Federal Way, Washington, was captured without incident in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, just moments after the Bureau placed him on the list and raised his reward to up to $1 million.
It is the fastest arrest in the history of the list, shattering a record that had stood for over 55 years. The previous mark, set in 1969, was two hours.
Ramirez was deported from Mexico to the U.S. on Wednesday night, returned to Washington state, and taken into custody by Federal Way Police. He will be booked into jail in King County and is expected to appear in court for arraignment in about two weeks.
The underlying crime dates back to May 21, 2023, when two women were killed and a third person injured at a bar in Federal Way, Washington. Federal Way Police Chief Andy Hwang identified the victims as Jessyca Hohn and Katie Duhnke. An arrest warrant was issued charging Ramirez with the crimes, but he was believed to have fled the country after the killings.
For more than two years, Ramirez evaded American law enforcement. In November 2025, he was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and a federal arrest warrant was issued. On December 10, 2025, the FBI announced a reward of up to $25,000 for his arrest and conviction, as CBS News reports.
Then came Tuesday. The FBI increased the reward to up to $1 million and added Ramirez to the Ten Most Wanted list. Seventy-three minutes later, he was in custody in Sinaloa.
The capture involved the FBI, its Legal Attaché office in Mexico City, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, and Mexican authorities. Mexico's government released a statement affirming its:
"commitment to work in a coordinated manner with international authorities to detain individuals wanted in other countries."
The FBI's Seattle field office confirmed the apprehension on March 12, 2026:
"CAPTURED: #FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Samuel Ramirez, Jr., has been apprehended in Sinaloa, Mexico. He was returned to the United States and taken into custody by Federal Way Police in Washington state where he will face justice."
This is what cross-border law enforcement looks like when both sides actually cooperate. The speed of the capture suggests that intelligence on Ramirez's location was already solid before the formal designation. Adding him to the list and raising the reward to a million dollars may have been the final lever that triggered action from Mexican authorities who already knew where he was.
Ramirez's capture comes just weeks after another high-profile fugitive arrest in Mexico. Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder who had been on the FBI's most wanted list and on the run for over a year, was also arrested in Mexico. Wedding pleaded not guilty in January to 17 felony charges alleging that he operated a Mexican drug cartel.
Two FBI most wanted fugitives, both captured in Mexico, in rapid succession. That's not a coincidence. That's pressure producing results.
For years, the conventional wisdom held that fleeing to Mexico was practically a get-out-of-jail-free card for American fugitives. Extradition was slow when it happened at all. Coordination was spotty. Cartel-controlled regions like Sinaloa were essentially no-go zones for international law enforcement cooperation.
Something has shifted. Whether it's increased diplomatic leverage, better intelligence sharing, or Mexican authorities simply calculating that harboring American fugitives carries costs they'd rather not pay, the results speak clearly. Fugitives who once would have vanished into the sprawl of Mexican cities are now being picked up and sent back.
Jessyca Hohn and Katie Duhnke were killed nearly three years ago. A third person was injured in the same incident. For almost three years, the man allegedly responsible lived freely across an international border while the families of two murdered women waited.
That wait is over. Ramirez sits in a King County jail cell tonight. The arraignment clock is ticking. And the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list just proved it still means something. Seventy-three minutes of something.
