Fugitive Captured In Thailand After 30 Years On The Run; IE Authorities Say He's A Killer

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CA — Nearly 30 years after the disappearance of a Mexican man, who authorities believe was murdered by his employer, the accused has been extradited to the United States from Thailand and is now jailed awaiting trial, the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office announced Monday.

Woravit Kim Mektrakarn, 58, was arraigned Thursday on a charge of murder at Rancho Cucamonga Superior Courthouse. He pleaded not guilty. Due to his flight risk, a bail motion was denied.

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Mektrakarn is accused of killing Luis Osvaldo Diego Garcia, who disappeared from the Rama Foods noodle factory in Ontario in 1996 and is presumed dead. Garcia was 24 when he vanished.

Prosecutors believe Mektrakarn, who was Garcia's boss, murdered the worker in the factory's office over a pay dispute.

Garcia had grown tired of his employer forcing him to work unpaid overtime. Garcia and other Rama Foods employees — many of whom were immigrants — worked 12-hour days, six days a week, but were not paid overtime wages. Garcia threatened to report Mektrakarn to authorities, but the boss agreed to pay him back wages in exchange for keeping quiet about the company's abuse of immigrant workers, according to archive media reports.

On November 23, 1996, Garcia went to the factory to collect a portion of that money. Several of his friends and co-workers allegedly saw him arrive at the office and enter, but he was never seen or heard from again.

Two of Garcia's cousins, both of whom worked in the factory, knew about the planned payment but became worried when they could not reach him afterward.

Police were contacted, and during an investigation, detectives found evidence of Garcia's blood scattered throughout the factory office, suggesting he was killed inside during a violent struggle, according to the archive media reports.

The whereabouts of Garcia's body was never disclosed, and police did not publicly announce how he was killed.

Mektrakarn was charged with Garcia's murder not long after the slaying, but the businessman had already fled the United States.

In May 2008, a Mektrakarn associate was found not guilty of being an accessory to the murder of Garcia. An eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated for about a day before acquitting then 57-year-old Chansak "Buck" Plengsangtip.

At the time, prosecutors alleged Plengsangtip was in the factory office visiting Mektrakarn when the killing occurred, but lied about his knowledge of it to police in order to protect his friend.

Far away from the courthouse and the alleged crime scene, for years, Mektrakarn moved around Southeast Asia using a fake identity, according to prosecutors. It's not clear what his life was like there, but in April 2024, authorities caught up with him: He was apprehended by the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok at the request of the United States. At the time, Mektrakarn was using an alias and a disguise, prosecutors said.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok worked with Thai authorities to secure Mektrakarn's extradition. On January 16, 2026, he was finally brought to the United States and escorted to San Bernardino County by the U.S. Marshals Service.

“This case demonstrates our unwavering commitment to pursuing justice, no matter how much time has passed,” San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said Monday. “It also stands as a testament to the extraordinary efforts and partnerships of law enforcement agencies across the globe, whose dedication made this outcome possible.”

The next step for Mektrakarn is a pre-preliminary hearing scheduled for February 17 at the Rancho Cucamonga Superior Courthouse.