SAN ANTONIO – Victor Rangel, 24, who was wanted on a murder charge in Laredo, has been arrested on San Antonio's West Side.
Rangel was taken into custody Monday at an apartment complex in the 500 block of S. Acme Road, according to San Antonio police.
He is suspected of shooting and killing Sergio Valentin Saldana, 31, whose bullet-ridden body was found in a central Laredo neighborhood in October 2008.
A convicted criminal himself, Saldana (pictured below) had ties to illegal drug smuggling and was a suspect in a drug-related kidnapping case in that city, according to Investigator Jose Baeza, with the Laredo Police Department.
At the time of the murder, police did not have any suspects or make any arrests.
Detectives now believe that Rangel had been hired to kill Saldana, Baeza said.
He said detectives recently developed leads pointing them toward Rangel, who was in San Antonio, as a suspect.
He said Laredo police had help from San Antonio detectives in tracking down and arresting him.
Rangel was booked into the Bexar County Jail on a charge of murder. He eventually will be sent back to Laredo to stand trial.
Records show two months after Saldana's October 2008 murder, Rangel was arrested in San Antonio on a drug charge -- possession of marijuana.
