Fugitive from N.J. murder case found in Monett, Mo.

MONETT, Mo. -- Authorities in southwest Missouri have captured a 34-year-old fugitive wanted on a murder charge in New Jersey.

Gabriel Torres of Camden, N.J., was captured Friday in an apartment in Monett, said Detective Robert Evenson of the Barry County Sheriff's Department. The department said Torres had been on the run since a murder warrant was issued for his arrest Dec. 4 by Camden County in New Jersey.

The U.S. Marshals Service had informed Barry County on Thursday that Torres might be in Monett, Evenson said in a news release. The apartment complex on Highway 37 was staked out overnight by federal deputy marshals and Monett police.

Torres was arrested without incident and was being held in the Barry County Jail in Cassville, pending extradition proceedings.

Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County prosecutor's office, told The Joplin Globe that a Gabriel Torres of Camden is accused of fatally shooting 22-year-old Daniel Gonzalez on Oct. 31 in Camden during an apparent dispute over stolen auto parts.

Laughlin said the two men are believed to have exchanged gunfire and both were hit. Torres drove away from the scene but was later taken to a Camden hospital by relatives, where he was in critical condition initially.

Laughlin said the suspect recovered and was released from the hospital before the prosecutor's office charged him with murder.