Arnoldo Jimenez, a fugitive wanted in the 2012 murder of his wife, Estrella Carrera, was arrested in Monterrey, Mexico in January 2025 and returned to the Chicago area on Thursday. He arrived at O’Hare and was transferred to local custody, but it remains uncle
When Arnoldo Jimenez stepped off a plane bound for Chicago on Thursday afternoon, a case that began on a wedding night in 2012 started moving toward accountability again.
Jimenez, 44, was arrested in Monterrey, Mexico in January 2025 after years on the run and was returned to the Chicago area Thursday, landing at O’Hare. An FBI Chicago spokesperson said he was transferred to local custody after his arrival.
Jimenez was wanted for the murder of his wife. Estrella Carrera. who was found deceased less than 48 hours after their wedding. The FBI’s Chicago office had announced on Thursday that Jimenez was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. placing him at the center of the agency’s most persistent efforts to locate him.
The FBI said it worked with FBI Legat Mexico City. La Agencia de Investigación Criminal–INTERPOL. and the Burbank Police Department on the case. The federal office did not provide details on when Jimenez would appear in Cook County court. On Friday. Burbank Police Department could not be reached for comment. and the FBI Chicago office also did not say when the court proceedings would begin.
Carrera’s death is tied to the wedding and its immediate aftermath. Jimenez was last seen after an impromptu wedding reception at a night club in May 2012. the day before Carrera’s body was found in the bathtub of her apartment in southwest suburban Burbank. She was 26. Authorities said Carrera was still wearing the silver dress she had worn during the wedding ceremony at City Hall.
A warrant for Jimenez’s arrest for first-degree murder was entered a few days later. He spent nearly 13 years on the run.
By the time he was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list in 2019, the reward for information leading to his arrest had grown from $10,000 to $250,000. The FBI poster also described him as wanted for first degree murder and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Investigators believed Jimenez argued with Carrera after leaving their wedding reception in his black 2006 Maserati. Authorities theorized he fatally stabbed Carrera in the car, then moved her body into the bathroom of the apartment.
Family members became concerned quickly. Authorities said relatives contacted police to check the apartment after Carrera did not turn up to pick up their toddler and their 8-year-old daughter the day after the wedding.
After the murder, investigators believed Jimenez fled to central Mexico, where he had family in the state of Durango. They tracked his cellphone for less than a day before it went dark. During that brief window. investigators said they saw he moved from the Chicago area to southern Illinois. then through Memphis and Arkansas. before going dark at Hildalgo. Texas. near the border. Monterrey—where he was arrested—is about 150 miles from Hildalgo in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.
Thursday’s return to Chicago closes a long distance in the case. but the timing of the next step remains unclear. For a family that has waited through years of pursuit and escalating rewards. the question now is not whether Jimenez can be found—it is how soon he will face the court that has been waiting for him all along.
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