Law enforcement captures wanted fugitive out of Albany County in Mexico

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Anthony Ojeda, aka Erik Jonathan Donas-Ojeda, 42, has been apprehended in Mexico. Ojeda is wanted in connection with the murder of an infant in New York in 2019 and is listed as one of the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted fugitives.

Ojeda and his husband, Neil Garzon, both face charges in New York but reportedly fled the country to avoid prosecution. Garzon was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and hindering prosecution. Ojeda was charged with second-degree murder after his 6-week-old son was found unresponsive in an apartment by Cohoes Police on December 3, 2019.

The child, Eli Ojeda, died at the hospital. An autopsy determined Ojeda died of acute methamphetamine toxicity and physical trauma.

INTERPOL-Mexico arrested Ojeda in Mexico City on January 24, 2024. CDMX Secretaria de Seguridad Ciudadana Police and Fiscalia del Estado de Mexico arrested his husband, Neil Garzon. The agencies conducted the arrests with the support of U.S. Marshals from the Mexico Foreign Field Office and the Northern District of New York.

Ojeda is awaiting extradition from the Republic of Mexico. Garzon was removed by Mexico authorities on Friday.

U.S. Marshals partnered with INTERPOL-Mexico, the Cohoes Police Department, the New York State Police, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York, and the Albany County District Attorney's Office. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance.

Back in Cohoes where his apartment is now home to another family, the next-door neighbor says he is ecstatic to hear the news.

"I hope they give him the full extent of the law. Death row personally. I’m happy to find out the little boy is getting justice," described Robert Gibson.

As a father, Gibson says he was angry to learn in 2022 that his family was living near the scene of a violent crime. He sees this tragedy as part of a larger issue in the city.

"No, I don’t feel any safer. Justice caught up with him, good, but I don’t feel as if we’re safe."