(Spencer)– It was June, 1997 when Gregory “Sky” Erickson of Estherville was kidnapped and brutally murdered by members of an Estherville gang known as “Los Krazy Boyz” over a disputed drug debt. More than nine years later, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office says the last of ten suspects charged in the case has been arrested in Mexico and has been extradited back to this country.
Juan Humberto Astillo-Alvarez was charged in 2004 in Clay county with murder and kidnapping in the second degree…both class “B” felonies; and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony…a class “C” felony. A warrant was issued for Astillo-Alvarez, who fled for Mexico. He eventually was taken into custody in Mexico City where he had been held for about a year awaiting a lengthy extradition process.
Astillo-Alvarez was finally extradited from Mexico to Houston, Texas where he appeared in court Monday and waived extradition to Iowa. The process was completed around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when deputies returned to Clay county with Astillo-Alvarez.
Astillo-Alvarez is being held in the Clay county jail on bond of one million dollars.
Gregory “Sky” Erickson was assaulted and kidnapped in Spencer on June 6th, 1997. He was transported with a pillowcase over his head to a public access near Swan Lake…north of Superior…where Erickson was bound, gagged and repeatedly beaten by three members of the gang. A gun was pointed at Erickson, but wasn’t fired. Erickson was then placed in the trunk of a car and was taken to an abandoned farmhouse near Petersburg, Minnesota where he was shot to death.
Clay County Sheriff Randy Krukow say he and others wondered if the day would ever come that Astillo-Alvarez would face justice for their heinous crime.
Nine other people involved in the kidnapping and murder have been convicted of various charges and are serving prison sentences.
Erickson’s father, Gregory Erickson, Senior of Estherville, filed a lawsuit in U-S District Court claiming his son was endangered as the result of authorities recruiting him as a drug informant.
