Mexico Extradites Suspect in O.C. Killing

After a lengthy extradition dispute, a Mexican man has been turned over to Orange County authorities in the killing of a Costa Mesa teenager whose body was found in Fairview Regional Park in 2001.

Victor Garcia, 20, was to have been arraigned Monday in Juvenile Court because he was 17 when police named him as a suspect in the death of 16-year-old Ceceline Godsoe. Proceedings in Juvenile Court are confidential, so it could not be confirmed that he had been arraigned.

Police allege that Garcia met Godsoe in the park on Sept. 20, 2001, and hit her on the head following an argument. Garcia fled shortly after he learned that police were looking for him. He was arrested last year in Mexico City on unrelated domestic violence charges there.

The prospects of extradition had appeared dim because Mexico had not returned its nationals to face possible death or sentences of life in prison. Last week, federal agents who brought Garcia from Mexico, turned him over to Costa Mesa detectives.