Texas teenager wanted for deadly drunken driving wreck, caught in Mexico

Dee Anderson, sheriff of Tarrant County in Texas, said Ethan Couch, 18, who was on probation after killing four people in a drink-driving rampage, and his mother Tonya had prepared to be gone a while, even dyeing Couch’s blond hair black, before being detained in the Pacific Coast city of Puerto Vallarta.

“They had planned to disappear”.

“They even had something that was nearly akin to a going-away party before leaving town”, he said. He would not give details about the event including how many people attended.

In June 2013 at age 16, Ethan Couch was driving drunk and speeding on a dark two-lane road south of Fort Worth when he crashed into a disabled SUV off to the side, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in Couch’s pickup truck.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault, and all he had to do was lie low, get well and he would be free to go. In January, he has a hearing scheduled that could allow him to be treated as an adult rather than a juvenile, according to ABC.

So Couch is in trouble for missing a mandatory December 10 meeting with his probation officer.

His case drew national attention during the trial sentencing, when his defense argued that Couch suffered from ” affluenza”, and did not understand the consequences of his actions thanks to the shielding effects of his parents’ money.

Couch disappeared as authorities investigated whether he had violated the terms of his probation. Plenty of people assisted the police, though: Investigators received “dozens and dozens of calls of sightings” from people who knew the Couches, Anderson said. It was not clear whether they had any accomplices.

No immediate charges were planned for others who may have known about or assisted with the flight plan, Mr Anderson said.

The FBI and US Marshals Service joined the search after authorities put Couch on the country’s most wanted list, offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Authorities are charging Tonya Couch after they believe she helped her son Ethan run away to Mexico.

Couch’s cell phone use might have led authorities to the pair. Couch and his mother were found in a dowdy section of Puerto Vallarta’s old town, far from the glitzy resorts, golf courses and high-rise hotels of the city’s newer section.

But the word took on a different meaning in 2013 after it was introduced by G. Dick Miller, a psychologist hired by defense attorneys during Couch’s DUI case.

When stopped at an intersection, the pair could not prove they had the legal right to stay in the country and were handed over to Mexican immigration authorities.

Ethan Couch, his hair darkened, was also said to have regularly visited a corner store across the street from the apartment.

A photo released by state prosecutors shows Couch with his hands behind his back and shirt open. If Couch remains in the juvenile system, he could ultimately spend just a few months in jail.

Ethan Couch’s mother, Tonya Couch, has been charged with hindering the apprehension of a juvenile, and if convicted, faces between 2 and 10 years in jail, Wilson said.

“That, in my opinion, is not enough for taking four lives”, said Sharen Wilson, Tarrant County district attorney, who explained that the courts were bound by Couch’s original probation sentence. If prosecutors succeed in having his case transferred to adult court, Couch could then face up to 120 days in an adult jail, followed by 10 years’ probation.

At the time of Couch’s conviction, prosecutors said he could be incarcerated for up to 10 years for violating his probation terms.

If the judge declines to transfer Couch to adult court, Wilson will ask that his probation be revoked, in which case he could be held in a juvenile facility until his sentence expires when he turns 19 next April.

Couch’s lawyers, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, said they would not comment until they has spoken to him, probably not before Couch reaches the US.

They were expected to be returned to Houston on a commercial flight later on Tuesday from Jalisco’s state capital, Guadalajara, Vera said. “The problem with it was, as you can imagine, Puerto Vallarta at Christmas time, a tremendous amount of tourists down there, so American people were prevalent everywhere, it wouldn’t be somewhere they were going to stick out”, he said.