America’s Most Wanted rerun leads to arrest in hit and run cold case almost three decades old

Gerardo Garcia-Michel has been arrested in New Jersey in connection with a fatal hit-and-run in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1997. A viewer recognised him while watching a rerun of *America’s Most Wanted* and sent police a tip, reviving a case that had remained unresolved for nearly three decades.

Leslie Ruby, a 64-year-old Korean War veteran, was struck while crossing the street on his riding lawn mower after mowing his daughter’s grass. Police said the car was large, dark and had no number plates; days later, they found a damaged car matching that description and identified Garcia-Michel, then 28, as a suspect. The tip arrived on 4 August, and Garcia-Michel was arrested on 26 August; Iowa police are working to extradite him.