A.M COSTA RICA
When Keith Cojocar jumped bond and missed the last day of his DUI
manslaughter trial in 1998, a prosecutor confidently declared, "We'll
put the handcuffs on him a little later."
The threat began to
ring hollow as the years dragged on, but on Tuesday authorities made
good on their 7-year-old vow, tracking down in Costa Rica one of Palm
Beach County's most sought-after DUI manslaughter fugitives.
"It
is a magnificent day," said Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts, the
prosecutor who promised in 1998 that Cojocar would be brought to
justice. "I can hardly wait to see him."
Cojocar is expected to
be extradited to Palm Beach County, where a 32-year prison sentence
awaits him on two counts of DUI manslaughter. The 34-year-old former
Royal Palm Beach machinist was convicted in the deaths of Alice Tyler,
46, and Heather Durkin, 15, who were driving on Indiantown Road in
Jupiter in August 1996 when Cojocar crashed head-on into their car,
killing both.
Costa Rican authorities took Cojocar into custody
around midnight in the capital, San José, where, an official said, he
was working at a sports gambling business. A U.S. Marshals' task force
and State Department special agents had tracked him there after a
topsy-turvy, years-long investigation.
"It was a tough one," said Deputy U.S. Marshal Walt Reilly. "We put a lot of man-hours into this."
The marshals' task force had its sights on Cojocar in Costa Rica since taking on the investigation in late 2003.
Officials
think they were close to nabbing him about a year ago but believe he
slipped out of sight after learning he was mentioned in an episode of
TV's America's Most Wanted, one that federal marshals had tried
unsuccessfully to stop from airing.
The arrest comes with a
collective sigh of relief for the relatives of Tyler and Durkin, who
have been forced to wait for the closure they expected to come in a
courtroom years ago.
"For the person who caused it to just get
away just didn't feel fair," said Ruth Cottrell, Tyler's sister. "He
should at least serve some time for this."
Cojocar's mother,
Mary Ann Cojocar of Royal Palm Beach, said she couldn't blame her son
for fleeing the country as he was set to be convicted.
A 32-year sentence, she said, was too harsh for a young man who intended to harm no one.
"It was just one mistake," she said. "You would run. Everybody would run."
