Detectives have wanted to talk to Jose Cruz Avellaneda since the body of 38-year-old Mary Esther Avellaneda was found in a wooded area off McKenzie Road outside Salemburg.
At the time, family members said the couple had a history of domestic violence. An autopsy showed she'd been beaten to death.
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During the course of the investigation, a vehicle belonging to Avellaneda was found abandoned in San Antonio, Texas, and it was also learned that the couple's 13-year-old son was living in Mexico.
Then this week, detectives learned Avellaneda was living in Polk County, Florida - near Lakeland. Deputies there arrested him on unrelated charges. The Sampson County Sheriff's Office now has a murder warrant for him and he will be extradited back to North Carolina.
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