ONTARIO – (INT) – A nearly 30-year murder investigation stemming from an Ontario business deal that went awry is winding down.

Prosecutors announced Monday (January 26th) that Woravit Mektrakarn has been returned to the Inland Empire from Bangkok, Thailand where he’d been living under a false identity.

Mektrakarn fled from the United States after the disappearance in 1996 of Luis Garcia, who worked for Mektrakarn at his Ontario noodle business. Garcia last seen on November 23, 1996, when he was believed to have met Mektrakarn to receive a final payment in a financial agreement. His body was never found and prosecutors believe he was murdered.

Mektrakarn lived under a falsified identity alternating between Burma and Cambodia for nearly 30 years.

Story Date: February 6, 2026