By admin 
LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ (AZFamily) — A missing persons case has now turned into a homicide investigation after police said they found two bodies in the backyard Thursday of a Litchfield Park home.
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An international search is now underway for 27-year-old Matthew Flores.
“All I can say is that he fled the country,” said Avondale Police Officer Daniel Benavidez.
Van Bayless, acting U.S. Marshal for the District of Arizona, said he and his leadership team reached out to Avondale Police after the case came out.
“We’re ready and willing to assist,” Bayless said.
Avondale Police have not said where they believe Flores is, when he left the country or why they think he’s gone.
Bayless said there are several ways law enforcement can track suspects around the world, whether through physical or digital evidence.
“Once they go international, they’ll go somewhere, they may be there for a moment of time, and then they move somewhere else,” Bayless said. “So it really depends on which country an individual is in; how active are they on their flight of how many resources you need.”
Investigators typically follow evidence trails left by suspects and rely on relationships with law enforcement agencies around the world, Bayless said.
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“We’ve built relationships with these other countries over not just decades, but hundreds of years,” he said. “The marshals have been doing this for hundreds of years.”
Extradition process
If Flores is located, authorities would likely seek to extradite him to the U.S. to face charges. Bayless said that process varies by country.
“International extradition is that an individual is wanted,” Bayless said. “The county attorney’s office or a DA, depending on where it is in the U.S., they start coordinating with the Department of Justice and the Office of International Affairs. They start kind of getting this package ready that is going to go to the host nation wherever the individual is.”
Bayless said options exist to bring fugitives back to the U.S. even in countries without an active extradition treaty.
“It’s just a matter of time until they’re going to be caught,” he said.
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