A fugitive who slipped out of the hands of border officials after his girlfriend's body was found decomposing in the trunk of a car in Tijuana, Mexico, in May 2022 was taken into custody last month in Orange County on charges including fraud and grand theft, as well as several warrants.
Tyler Adams, 51, was last seen crossing the border into the U.S. on June 16, 2022, when his handover to U.S. Customs and Border Protection somehow went awry.
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Racquel Sabean, Adams' girlfriend, crossed the border into Mexico on April 17 with Adams and their 7-month-old daughter Valentina. Raquel’s badly decomposed body was found in the back of her mother’s car in Tijuana on May 31.
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On June 8, Mexican authorities issued an Amber Alert to find Valentina. Adams was detained in Tecate on June 15 and questioned over her whereabouts. The baby was later found safe in Rosarito, according to the FBI.
The following day, authorities in Mexico turned Adams over to CBP officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry because he was also wanted in the U.S. after escaping custody in Hawaii in 2019, according to the Baja California Attorney General's Office. The FBI said Adams presented a fake ID and was freed to cross back into the U.S.
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“Clearly something went wrong” in the transfer, but “the focus now should be on getting him picked up and into custody,” FBI spokesperson Bill McNamara said last year.
According to the FBI, Adams is known to use more than a dozen aliases. He was originally wanted on a Hawaii state-issued warrant, issued in September 2020, after he left the Oahu Community Correctional Center on a work furlough on May 21, 2019, and never returned, according to officials in Hawaii.
Law enforcement in Hawaii described him as a "master of disguise." His long list of aliases includes the names Aaron Lee Bain, Aaron Lee, Aron Lee, Paul Wilson Phipps, Paul Wilson Phillps, David Smith, Dominic Braun, David Phillips, Kevin Kennedy, Michael Whittman, Lance Irwin, Brice Johnson, Matthew Kashani, Taylor Chase and Joshua Smith, according to the FBI.
Adams was arrested Nov. 30, 2023, by the Anaheim Police Department and faces several charges including grand theft, fraud via false pretenses, the fugitive warrant from the State of Hawaii, as well as federal warrants for making false statements and falsifying identification documents, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Adams pleaded guilty Dec. 11, 2023 to the misdemeanor grand theft and fraud charges and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He is due in court again Jan. 3, 2024, related to his fugitive status.
The FBI questioned Adams about the disappearance of Sabean in Mexico, but said he was uncooperative. on Wednesday, the FBI said Adams was not in custody based on his possible connection to Sabean's death.
"We continue to work with our partners in Mexico to investigate the incident," a statement from FBI spokesperson Kira Boyd read in part.
Prosecutors in Mexico, however, still label Adams as a suspect in Sabean's "femicide," a term used in Mexico to describe targeted killings of women.
Last year, the Baja California Attorney General's Office said Adams was the primary suspect in Sabean's death. NBC 7 reached out to the office for comment on Adams' arrest and is waiting for a response.
In 2012, Adams pleaded guilty to felony identity theft charges after using his mother and stepfather's information to obtain millions in real estate. While serving a seven-year prison sentence in San Diego County, he alleged he was beaten by fellow prisoners.
He filed a formal complaint with the sheriff's department claiming injuries from the attack resulted in alterations to previous plastic surgeries:
"I was assaulted by two inmates; Melvin Brice and Timothy White; and the assault resulted in dislodging my cheek implant and chin implant — as well as bashing in my nose causing severe injury, so that I can no longer breathe out of my right nostril. Medical did not provide timely nor adequate medical care. The [San Diego Sheriff's Department] acted with deliberate indifference to my serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment."
At the time, Adams asked for immediate surgery to remedy his problems. It's not known if he did undergo the requested medical treatment, but what is known is that his complaint was rejected on Aug. 8 of that same year.
The following month, Adams called the office of the San Diego County District Attorney to report the incident, also telling the DA's office that he failed to report the assault to deputies at that time and that he believed the incident was committed against him because of his religion, Messianic Judaism.
