Authorities say fugitive wanted in 2016 vehicular homicide near Ferndale is dead
After more than nine years on the Washington State Patrol’s Most Wanted list, investigators recently confirmed a Lynden man who fled to Guatemala following a vehicular homicide near Ferndale is deceased.
Luciano Ailon-Garcia was wanted for his role in the death of Georgianna James, who was thrown from a car driven by Ailon-Garcia after he crashed into a raspberry field along the 500 block of West Pole Road on the morning of Aug. 28, 2016.
Ailon-Garcia was speeding and suspected to be under the influence at the time of the crash.
Following the crash, another passenger, Hugo Eduardo Raymundo-Agustin, and a woman not in the car allegedly helped Ailon-Garcia to hide from authorities.
About a week later, court records show Raymundo-Agustin picked up $600 wired by Ailon-Garcia’s family to help get him out of the country. He was then driven to the U.S.-Mexico border and dropped off there.
Raymundo-Agustin pleaded guilty to second-degree rendering of criminal assistance in December 2019 and was sentenced to 364 days in jail. The woman was never charged.
WSP issued a warrant for Ailon-Garcia’s arrest on charges of vehicular homicide, hit-and-run death and vehicular assault on March 21, 2017. Investigators were able to determine he had returned to his home country of Guatemala, but he was never found.
WSP said James’ family was notified of Ailon-Garcia’s death, and wrote on Facebook that they “hope this information can bring some measure of closure to them.”
WSP provided no details regarding how investigators determined Ailon-Garcia had died.