After 6 years, man charged in Wilder woman’s killing is in custody in Idaho
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Jacob Scholl, Idaho Statesman
CALDWELL (Idaho Statesman) – Canyon County law enforcement announced that a suspect in a 2015 killing in Wilder is back in Idaho after being extradited from Mexico to the United States.
Online jail records show that Erasmo Diaz — who has been wanted since the June 11, 2015, shooting death of his wife, Amparo Godinez Sanchez — was booked into the Canyon County jail at 9:40 p.m. Thursday. A news release from the county said Diaz would be in court via video to be arraigned on Friday afternoon.
Police say Diaz shot and killed Godinez in front of their children at their Wilder home. An arrest warrant was issued a day after the killing, and a grand jury indicted Diaz in May 2016 on multiple felony charges, including second-degree murder.
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However, Diaz was able to leave the state and evade police after the shooting. His car was found abandoned in Adrian, Oregon, roughly 12 miles away from Wilder.
During a 2016 interview with the Statesman, Godinez’s children described her as the heart of their family who was caring and always willing to help others. Since their mother’s killing, Laura and Judy Diaz have become advocates for survivors of domestic abuse.
“I don’t really think we’ve been given that chance to really grieve for her because, right now, we’re so afraid that he is still out there,” Laura Diaz said in 2016 of Erasmo Diaz.
Erasmo Diaz has previous convictions related to domestic violence. In 2008, he pleaded three felony charges down to misdemeanors after he assaulted Godinez and threatened to shoot members of the family. He served a 90-day jail sentence and completed a year of probation before he successfully petitioned a court to regain control of his three handguns.
Godinez’s killing prompted a 2018 bill in the Idaho Legislature from Rep. Melissa Wintrow that would have blocked anyone with a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction from owning guns for two years. The bill would have reflected a federal law, but the legislation failed to pass in the Republican-dominated House.
Erasmo Diaz evaded capture until he was arrested in an undisclosed area of Mexico by federal police in June. Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue was notified of the arrest on Saturday, June 26, and announced it during a news conference the following Monday.