FBI Top Ten Fugitive Arrested in Mexico

Accused Nashville child killer Genero Espinosa Dorantes, an FBI Top Ten Fugitive, has been arrested in Mexico and is awaiting extradition proceedings that will return him to Tennessee.

My Harrison, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Memphis Division, and Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas today announced that Dorantes was taken into custody without incident late Saturday afternoon by members of the Agencia Federal de Investigacion (the FBI's Mexican counterpart) in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Dorantes' arrest came just five days after his girlfriend, Martha L. Cano Patlan, was taken into custody in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Mexico.

"This investigation transcended international borders and succeeded due to the tremendous work and dedication of Nashville detectives, FBI agents in the United States and Mexico and Mexican law enforcement," Harrison and Serpas said in a joint statement. "The cooperation of everyone involved has been truly outstanding."

Both Dorantes and Patlan are named in a Davidson County grand jury indictment charging first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in connection with the brutal torture and homicide of Patlan's four-year-old son, Luis Osvaldo Cisneros, whose beaten and burned body was found by a citizen behind a small mound of dirt in West Park on the morning of February 23, 2003. An autopsy revealed that the child had internal head injuries consistent with blunt trauma, was well as infected burn wounds, consistent with scalding, on the lower part of his body.

On February 24, 2003, Dorantes and Patlan were named in arrest warrants charging them with murder. The next day, at the police department's request, the United States Attorney and the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force obtained federal warrants charging the couple with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Dorantes was added to the FBI's list of the nation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives on August 14, 2003.

The significant break in the case came ten days ago when Youth Services Detective Sarah Bruner received information from a member of Nashville's Latino community that Patlan was in Mexico and was willing to talk to authorities. Patlan was located in Mexico and was taken into custody. She agreed to cooperate. Additional investigation by the FBI's Legal Attaché Office in Mexico City revealed that Dorantes was likely living in Tijuana. Mexican authorities worked closely with the FBI to pinpoint Dorantes' exact whereabouts. On Saturday, Mexican law enforcement officials interviewed a female friend of Dorantes who said she had just seen him in the area. Agents then flooded the area, spotted Dorantes, and took him into custody.

Dorantes was living in Tijuana with his four-year-old son, Edgar Allen Espinosa Patlan, who was actually born in Nashville and is a United States citizen. The United States Consulate in Tijuana has assumed custody of the child.

Martha Patlan was living in Mexico with her 11-year-old daughter, Mariana Cisneros, the sister of the murder victim. Mariana Cisneros is in the custody of relatives in Mexico.