The Twisted, Jealousy-Fueled Crimes of the FBI's Most Wanted Woman
After over six months on the run, Brenda Delgado, 33, the only woman on the FBI'sTen Most Wanted Fugitives list, is now in custody in Mexico.
Last year, Delgado, who was studying to be a dental hygienist, allegedly orchestrated the murder-for-hire of Kendra Hatcher, 35, a pediatric dentist in Texas, after discovering that Hatcher was dating Delgado's ex-boyfriend, Ricardo Paniagua.
"Apparently, she was jealous," said Special Agent Jason Ibrahim of the FBI's Dallas Violent Crimes Task Force in a statement published on the FBI's website.
"Delgado was able to effectively manipulate everyone she involved in her calculated scheme."
Authorities believe that Delgado developed her plan shortly after learning that her ex and Hatcher were planning a Cancun getaway and that they had just returned from San Francisco, where he had introduced Hatcher to his parents. Hatcher was found dead from a gunshot wound in the parking garage of her Dallas apartment complex on September 2, 2015.
Delgado told the shooter that she was connected with one of the cartels and could get him a steady supply of drugs if he committed the murder.
Delgado allegedly hired two people to commit the crime—Kristopher Love, 32, to pull the trigger and Crystal Cortes, 24, a former dental assistant, to drive the getaway car. Cortes told police that Delgado had been tracking Hatcher on her iPhone and that Delgado offered to pay her $500 to drive the vehicle. Cortes also told police that Delgado threatened her saying if she "snitched" she and her 6-year-old son "would be next."
"Delgado was able to effectively manipulate everyone she involved in her calculated scheme," said Thomas M. Class, Sr., the special agent in charge of the FBI's Dallas Division. "Although she didn't pull the trigger herself, she is still responsible for the murder."
Both Cortes and Love are behind bars facing capital murder charges.
Dallas police brought Delgado in for questioning two days after the murder. A witness tipped them off, saying he lent Delgado his Jeep, which turned out to be the vehicle used in the murder. Delgado admitted to then lending it to Cortes. After questioning, police let her go.
"[An arrest] wasn't called for at that point," a Dallas police officer, Major Max Geron,told reporters. "That was very early in the investigation, and we were still sorting things out."
Cortes turned herself in to police two days after the murder , and the Love wasarrested about a month after the crime. Both were charged with capital murder. They separately told police that Delgado had hired them. According to FBI reports, Delgado told Love that she was connected with one of the Mexican drug cartels and could get him a steady supply of drugs if he committed the murder. Police issued a federal warrant for her arrest in October 2015; Delgado is a Mexican citizen, and police believed she had fled back to Mexico shortly after she was taken in for questioning.
The FBI added her to the Most Wanted list last week. Shortly after, on Friday, Mexican authorities found her in Torreón, a city in Mexico's central Coahuila region, and took her into custody. A source in the DA's office tells Broadly the only way to extradite Delgado from Mexico is to take the death penalty off the table, which the DA will be doing to move forward on getting Delgado back in the country.
Delgado was the ninth woman to be placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since its creation in 1950. She is currently in prison in Mexico awaiting extradition to the US.