SANTA ANA (AP) — A Los Angeles County man, who was arrested five years after his ex-girlfriend’s murder, has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison for slitting her throat in 2001.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office said Friday that 34-year-old Ruben Retana Perez of Whittier was found guilty of murder in a jury trial in August 2011.

Prosecutors say Perez attacked 29-year-old Rocio Leon as he was driving her to work. He cut her throat with a kitchen knife and stabbed her twice before running over her body and fleeing.

Perez remained a fugitive until he was arrested in 2008 in Arkansas for drunk driving. Police there discovered his true identity and the Orange County murder warrant.

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