An Ohio man whose story was told on TV’s America’s Most Wanted in 2005 continued to evade law enforcement for nearly two more decades, even as he worked as one of them.
Antonio Riano, 72, has been on Ohio’s “Most Wanted” list for 20 years now, since the 2004 shooting death of Benjamin Becarra, 25. On August 1, 2024, Riano was finally arrested and taken in after US Marshals reported finding him working as a police officer in his hometown of Zapotitlán Palmas, State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Riano was was wanted for homicide by the Butler County Sheriff’s Office after the December 2004 shooting, but allegedly fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution.
According to the US Marshals Service, the sheriff’s office partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, who then worked with law enforcement in Mexico to arrest and extradite Riano. He is now being held Butler County Jail without bond pending additional court proceedings.
“The United States Marshal Service, through our violent fugitive task forces, assists our state and local law enforcement partners to apprehend the area’s most dangerous fugitives,” said US Marshal Michael D. Black in the statement. “This arrest is the result of the ongoing sharing of information between the agencies and the determination of the investigators who refused to give up on this case.”
Dubbed “The Devil” as his story was featured on AMW, Riano’s trail went cold after US Marshals attempted to capture him with a 2006 warrant, per NBC News.
They’d tracked him to his mother’s house in Mexico, but by the time Marshals arrived, Riano was no longer there. The cold case picked up heat in January 2024 when the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office received its reapplication for the provisional warrant.
At that time, Chief Investigator Paul Newton and his team used social media, including Facebook, to track Riano down. While purportedly working as a police officer in Mexico, per the US Marshals’ release, Riano had left behind a wife and three kids in Hamilton, Ohio.
Newton said Riano “has been the most challenging just in the simple fact that he really dug in then and went underground.” After the 2006 attempt failed, Newton said Riano moved again. “We really didn’t see any evidence of him until 2023,” he said. “I think he thought he was home free.”
Now that he’s captured, Riano is facing two counts of murder and felony assault charges for the December 19, 2004 shooting of Becarra outside the Roadhouse Bar. Police say they found the gun used in the shooting in a hidden compartment under the kitchen floor of Riano’s apartment in Hamilton with bullets beside it, per Fox 19.
Riano reportedly tried to step in to help a bartender after Becarra was asked to leave the premises since he’d been part of a fight there a few weeks back. As Riano and Becarra allegedly began to argue, the bartender purportedly asked them to take the dispute outside.
Shortly after, gunshots were heard and Becarra was found lying face down on the sidewalk. Surveillance footage at the time showed Riano leaving the scene, per the New York Post, but authorities were unable to locate him.
