Elderly Man Comes In To Police Station To Turn Himself In- Police Shocked When...

Typically, a person accused of a crime will either be arrested, turn themselves in, or go on the run. In this man's case, he took the final route for quite some time.

A Texas man who was accused of murder back in 1962 went on the run, and remained in hiding for 55 years. Now the man has stepped forward and turned himself in to the police. Family members believed that the aging man is trying to find closure by coming clean.

Joe Ovalle and his son had just pulled into their driveway and were going into the house. It was December 22, 1962, and the two had just returned from some last-minute Christmas shopping. The 26-year-old father had another child on the way, and his thoughts were probably filled with holiday plans. Ovalle never got to carry out those plans, however. He never even made it into his home. He was gunned down in cold blood right there in his driveway.

Three bullets hit Ovalle; one in the abdomen and another hit his chest. He was rushed to Robert B Green Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Frank Luna Juarez, then 28 years old, was arrested and charged with murder. Juarez told authorities that he was present, but he merely sat in the car. The murder, he said, was carried out by 20-year-old Pete Ortiz.

Ortiz and Juarez were hired by another man for $1,000 to carry out the murder contract. They say the man that hired them told them that Ovalle was an informant for federal narcotics agents.

Ortiz was nowhere to be found, however. Juarez has been serving a 99-year sentence, but his partner in crime had been on the run for all these years.

Now, 55 years later, Ortiz will finally face justice for his crimes. He wasn't found; he voluntarily surrendered.

A judge asked Ortiz where he had been in a preliminary hearing.

"I work all the time," Ortiz replied. "I work in the fields picking cotton. I followed the migrants to Wisconsin."

Ortiz's story differs from Juarez's story; Ortiz says Juarez was the trigger man, and that Ortiz was merely in the car during the cold-blooded killing. "Pete did nothing to aid, assist, abet or encourage this murder."

San Antonio Express reporters appeared at the home where Ortiz was living. A woman there who claims to be a relative said the situation has been 'hard on the family'. She believes that the 75-year-old man is looking to bring closure in his life.

Ortiz was initially being held on $250,000 bail, but the judge reduced his bond to $50,000 and released him on the condition that he wear an electronic GPS monitor.

Ovalle's daughter, who was born after her father died, says the situation is 'surreal'. Josie Martinez tells the San Antonio Express-News that she often thinks of what might have been had her father not been viciously gunned down.

"It has been hard never really knowing what happened, what kind of person he was, what kind of person he'd be now," she said.

Hopefully, Ovalle's children will find some closure as well with the arrest.

Source: Daily Mail
Photo: ABC 12