Fugitive Added To FBI Top 10 Most Wanted, Up To $1 Million Reward

The FBI says Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez has ties to Monterrey, Mexico and Mexico City, Mexico and could allegedly be linked to more than 10 murders in Mexico. He stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 165 pounds and is considered armed and extremely dangerous.

October 15, 2020

Jose Rodolgo Villarreal-Hernandez [FBI]

Jose Rodolgo Villarreal-Hernandez [FBI]

By: Michelle Sigona

Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez now has his spot on one of the most elite fugitive lists in the United States, the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted. The FBI says Villarreal-Hernandez, also known as "El Gato," holds an "active leadership position in the Beltran Leyva drug-trafficking organization within the region of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico." The FBI believes Villarreal-Hernandez allegedly directed his associates to track and murder a man in Southlake, TX.

According to a press release, on May 22, 2013, 43-year-old Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was at a busy, upscale Dallas-Forth Worth shopping center with his wife in the when the couple was targeted and ambushed. The victim was sitting in the passenger seat as his wife was loading packages into their SUV. It was then that a white Toyota Sequoia drove right behind the victim's red Range Rover.

The FBI says the wife of the victim got into the vehicle and was in the driver's seat when the suspect approached her husband's side of the SUV and fired the weapon several times.

"According to evidence and testimony gathered in the trials of those accused of tracking and killing the man, Villarreal-Hernandez ordered and financed a multi-year effort to find and watch the victim and then kill him," the FBI says. The fugitive is accused of having a long standing grudge against the victim, which agents say allegedly sparked this brazen attack. It's believed the victim was stalked for at least three months prior to his murder.

The fact that Villarreal-Hernandez was willing to send people to the United States to track someone within the United States and then execute that person in a neighborhood in Texas—we need to set the example that this will not be tolerated.

FBI Special Agent Gary Koenig

Special Agent Gary Koenig says, “The fact that Villarreal-Hernandez was willing to send people to the United States to track someone within the United States and then execute that person in a neighborhood in Texas—we need to set the example that this will not be tolerated."

Although the case has not concluded, the FBI says several of the defendants involved in the murder have since pleaded guilty and have also either been tried or convicted. There are others who are still awaiting trial in a federal court.

Villarreal-Hernandez stands 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 165 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes. He was originally born in Mexico and has used the birthdate January 16, 1978. Agents say this fugitive is armed and "extremely" dangerous. If you know where he's hiding, please contact the FBI directly. Koenig adds, “He’s a ruthless guy," and this case is a top priority for the United States and Mexico.

There's a reward up to $1 million for information leading to his arrest and this case is the 524th addition to the FBI's Top 10 program. If you know anything, please contact: tips.fbi.gov

Read more: KTVT

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