Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
Carson City detectives on Saturday brought back to Nevada an illegal immigrant wanted in the attempted murder of a woman he allegedly left for dead at the Carson River.
Miguel Barajas-Zarate, 31, was escorted from Washington state by Carson City Sheriffs detectives Dena Lacy and Daniel Gonzales.
The investigators flew out of Seattle about 1 p.m. Saturday with Barajas-Zarate and arrived at Reno-Tahoe International Airport at 2:30 p.m.
Barajas-Zarate is being held in the Carson City Jail on suspicion of felony attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He is being held without bail on the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On June 12, Barajas-Zarate allegedly shot Ashley Fortune, 21, in the stomach and then beat her with a rock in retaliation for an alleged theft. He left her for dead alongside the river at the end of Brunswick Canyon Road in East Carson City, according to investigators. Fortune was found alive two hours later by a passerby and is recovering from her injuries.
Lacy said Barajas-Zarate fled the scene in Fortune's vehicle, which he discarded in the parking lot of the old K-Mart on North Carson Street and made his way to Reno where he caught a Greyhound Bus to Wenatchee, Wash., where his brother lives.
Carson City detectives went to Washington in the hunt for Barajas-Zarate. After telling migrant workers in a cherry orchard near Wenatchee of a reward for Barajas-Zarate's arrest, a tip came in to Secret Witness that the suspect was in the orchard, said Gonzales.
He was arrested after officers stopped a vehicle driven by Barajas-Zarate's brother and they found Barajas-Zarate hunkered down in the back seat, said Gonzales.