Ecuador’s Most Wanted Fugitive Extradited to Ecuador for 2019 Murder of his Wife

Woodruff, SC – On On June 29, Cesar Leopoldo Condor Vaca, a 42-year-old Ecuadorian national was extradited to Ecuador where he is wanted by Ecuadorian authorities for femicide.  Condor Vaca was one of Ecuador’s six most wanted fugitives for gender violence and its most wanted fugitive in the United States. The U.S. Marshals Service surrendered Condor Vaca to officials from the Ecuadorian National Police prior to his extradition.

Ecuadorian authorities allege that, in May 2019, Condor Vaca murdered his wife by strangulation and then staged the crime scene to make it appear as if the victim hung herself. After examining the body, a forensic doctor determined the victim’s cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation and that her manner of death was violent. Witnesses also told authorities that Condor Vaca verbally abused and devalued the victim, had many conflicts with her, and argued with her the night before her death. Ecuadorian authorities opened an investigation, and Condor Vaca fled to the United States in March 2021, a few months after he designated his defense counsel in the Ecuadorian proceedings. Condor Vaca subsequently overstayed his visa, and ICE arrested him in South Carolina in January 2023. An Immigration Judge released him on bond in May 2023, pending the outcome of his immigration proceedings.  

Ecuador subsequently submitted an extradition request for Condor Vaca in July 2023. Criminal Investigators with the U.S. Marshals Service International Division developed information that Condor Vaca was residing in the Upstate area, initiating a local fugitive investigation. Deputies conducted several hours of surveillance and observed Condor Vaca at a residence near S. Main Street in Woodruff, SC. On March 11, U.S. Marshals Service District of South Carolina along with members from the Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office arrested Condor Vaca without incident

The U.S. Marshals Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force’s Greenville Division is comprised of investigators from the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Greenville City Police Department, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, Laurens County Sheriff’s Office, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, and the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.     

The extradition proceedings were handled by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina. This surrender marks the fifth extradition from the United States to Ecuador since 2024.