SEATTLE — A man wanted for his alleged involvement in a 2002 murder and series of rapes in Washington has been extradited to the United States after previously being deported to Mexico and disappearing, the Seattle branch of the FBI announced on Friday.
Miguel Angel Urbano-Vazquez was extradited in May 2025 following his arrest in Chimalhuacan, Estado de Mexico, Mexico, on March 14, 2023. In their press release, the FBI referred to Urbano-Vasquez as a fugitive.
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Urbano-Vasquez is charged with the murder and rape of Tacoma mother Sharon Van Gilder in Pierce County, Washington, as well as the rapes of three other people that same year.
In March 2002, Van Gilder’s body was found unclothed on the side of the road in the 15600 block of 74th Avenue East. Detectives believed she was killed at a different location as there was no evidence left at the scene and no marks on her body.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office identified Van Gilder by matching her fingerprints. During the course of the investigation, detectives found that Van Gilder was last seen leaving a bar in Tacoma with Urbano-Vazquez. Investigators quickly identified Urbano-Vazquez as the main murder suspect. However, he had disappeared before law enforcement was able to arrest him.
Detectives were also unable to obtain a DNA profile from him to match with DNA found on Van Gilder’s body.
The case, as well as the other rapes, remained unsolved until 2012, when investigators were finally able to use DNA to link Urbano-Vazquez to the crimes.
He was subsequently charged with murder and three rapes in the Superior Court of Washington for Pierce County, and a local arrest warrant was issued in October 2012.
In 2018, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office sought the FBI’s assistance in locating Urbano-Vazquez after it was clarified he had been deported to Mexico.
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In 2019, the FBI notified Anderson that they had located Urbano-Vazquez in Mexico. Extradition paperwork was filed and the FBI along with the help of Mexican authorities were able to arrest Urbano-Vazquez. In 2023 he was arrested and held in Mexico while the extradition was completed.
“This extradition should send a message to those who commit violence in our communities: you can run, but you can’t hide,” said Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington of the FBI’s Seattle Division. “Thanks to strong international partnerships, Mr. Urbano-Vazquez has learned that lesson first-hand and now will face justice here in the State of Washington for his horrific actions threatening our community.”
The FBI Seattle Field Office credited several agencies for their roles in coordinating Urbano-Vazquez’s arrest and extradition, including the FBI’s Legal Attaché office in Mexico City, Unidad Especializada de Combate al Secuestro (UECS), Fiscalia General de Justicia del Estado de México, Agencia de Investigación Criminal (AIC) Fiscalía General de la República, and the Western District of Washington’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Urbano-Vazquez has been sent back to the United States, where he will be tried in Pierce County, Washington’s Superior Court.
