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Ethan Couch, ‘Affluenza’ Defense Fugitive, Arrested in Mexico Ethan Couch, ‘Affluenza’ Teenager, Had Last Party Before Fleeing, Officials Say
(about 3 hours later)
A Texas teenager who was given probation after killing four people while driving drunk was arrested Monday evening, along with his mother, in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where they had fled to avoid a possible prison term for him, according to Mexican and American officials. FORT WORTH — Before fleeing to Mexico with his mother to avoid prison, the Texas teenager made famous by the defense that he was too rich and spoiled to take responsibility for killing four people in a drunken-driving accident, had what amounted to a going-away party, part of an escape plan crafted in advance, law enforcement officials said on Tuesday, hours after the pair were caught.
The teenager, Ethan Couch, was shown leniency in the 2013 drunken-driving case after a psychologist testified that he had “affluenza,” or psychological problems stemming from his family’s wealth. The teenager, Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, 48, were arrested by Mexican authorities in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta on Monday evening, less than three weeks after they became fugitives. Officials in both countries said that Mr. Couch, who they said had dyed his hair and beard in an attempt at disguise, would be returned to Texas to face justice, though how long that would take remained unclear.
Dave Oney, a spokesman for the United States Marshals Service, said that Mr. Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, 48, were being held by the Mexican authorities. “We’re working to get him back up here,” Mr. Oney said, “but we don’t know when.” “We learned through some interviews that what we suspected all along had happened, that they had planned to disappear, that they even had something that was akin to a going-away party before they left town,” Dee Anderson, the Tarrant County sheriff, said at a news conference in Fort Worth. To investigators, he said, the information “meant that what we suspected had happened, that it was carefully planned and timed to get out of the country.”
The mother and son disappeared several weeks ago, as local officials were examining whether Mr. Couch had violated the terms of his probation, and he was declared a fugitive. Mr. Couch was 16 when he killed four pedestrians in a drunken-driving crash near Fort Worth and pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter. His case quickly made national headlines twice: When a defense witness testified that he suffered from “affluenza,” too influenced by privilege and his parents’ permissiveness to know right from wrong; and when a judge appeared to accept the argument, and sentenced him to 10 years’ probation, rather than prison.
Mexican authorities arrested them at 6 p.m. Monday in Colonia 5 de Diciembre, a neighborhood on the southern end of Puerto Vallarta, according to the Jalisco State prosecutor’s office. State officials said the pair were taken into custody near the intersection of Colombia and Argentina Streets, just three blocks from the beach, in an area teeming with American tourists. The sheriff said on Monday that he was not at all surprised that Mr. Couch’s mother had not only helped him flee, but fled with him. It has been clear from the time of the accident, he said, that “there’s just no chance that she will ever think he needs to be punished or held accountable.”
On Saturday, the Marshals Service, through the American Consulate in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco State, notified Mexican officials that Mr. Couch and his mother might be in Puerto Vallarta, and asked the local authorities to search for them, Jalisco officials said. After their apprehension, the Couches were handed over to the Mexico’s National Institute of Migration for being in the country unlawfully, the prosecutor’s office said they would be returned to the United States. “We have now had an arrest warrant issued for Tonya Couch for hindering apprehension,” he added.
A Jalisco official said that Mr. Couch had changed his appearance, darkening his blond hair and red beard. Early this month, a Twitter user posted a six-second video that appeared to show Mr. Couch, barely out of an alcohol rehabilitation program, drinking at a party, and prosecutors began looking into whether he had violated the terms of his probation.
If was not clear how the fugitives reached Puerto Vallarta, how long they had been there, how the American authorities traced them there, how the pair supported themselves on the run or whether anyone had helped them. Before the video surfaced, prosecutors had already asked the juvenile court that had handled his case to transfer it to adult court, where the penalty for a probation violation could be to spend the rest of his 10-year probation in prison. Sharen Wilson, the Tarrant County district attorney, said that if the case remained in juvenile court, Mr. Couch could not be locked up past his 19th birthday, in April.
A hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 19 on the request to move the case to adult court, and he could face additional charges for fleeing. His lawyers declined to comment, noting that they have not had a chance to speak with him since his arrest.
Ms. Wilson and Mr. Anderson both made clear that they viewed Mr. Couch’s recent actions as a chance to make up for what they called the unjustified leniency the court showed him two years ago. And the sheriff adamantly defended the use of extensive resources, from multiple agencies, in an international manhunt for a teenage probation violator.
“Go talk to those four families who lost loved ones and who spent Christmas without their loved ones because he decided to drink three times the legal limit of alcohol and drive recklessly and kill four innocent people,” Sheriff Anderson said. “The details of the crime, and then the lack of justice in the sentence, outraged people in this area in a way that I haven’t ever seen people outraged. There was a strong, strong public demand for him to be brought to justice.”
He added, “I personally felt like justice was denied at the first juncture, and I had everything possible invested in this to get him back and I’m not apologizing for it. I don’t believe that the community and the public wanted anything less than us to use every available means to bring him back.”
Mexican authorities arrested the Couches at 6 p.m. on Monday in Colonia 5 de Diciembre, a neighborhood on the southern end of Puerto Vallarta, according to the Jalisco State prosecutor’s office. State officials said the pair were taken into custody at the intersection of Colombia and Argentina Streets, just three blocks from the beach, in an area teeming with American tourists. The Couches were handed over to the Mexico’s National Institute of Migration for being in the country unlawfully, and will be returned to the United States, the Jalisco State prosecutor’s office said.
The office released a photo of Mr. Couch, his blond hair, and red beard and mustache, died dark brown.
Sheriff Anderson said there was no sign so far that Mr. Couch’s father, who is divorced from his mother, had any role in their flight. “I don’t have any information about anybody assisting,” and it remains unclear whether anyone else knew they intended to flee, he said, but that remains under investigation.
Investigators received helpful information from people who know the Couches, and “dozens and dozens of calls of sightings” of them or their pickup truck, he said. The pair are believed to have driven the truck from the Fort Worth area deep into Mexico, but he would not say whether they still had it with them, or how they supported themselves on the run.
“He was, at best, looking at a life of exile,” Sheriff Anderson said of Mr. Couch.
A crucial piece of information indicating that they were in Puerto Vallarta came on Dec. 24, the sheriff said, but he would not elaborate. “The problem with it was, as you can imagine, Puerto Vallarta at Christmas time, a tremendous amount of tourists down there, so American people were prevalent everywhere, it wouldn’t be somewhere they were going to stick out,” he said.
On Saturday, the Marshals Service, through the American Consulate in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco State, notified Mexican officials that Mr. Couch and his mother might be in Puerto Vallarta, and asked the local authorities to search for them, Jalisco officials said.
Two years ago, the case crystallized widespread outrage that rich, white defendants like Mr. Couch receive more lenient treatment than poor, minority ones.Two years ago, the case crystallized widespread outrage that rich, white defendants like Mr. Couch receive more lenient treatment than poor, minority ones.
What was striking about Mr. Couch’s defense was that his lawyers argued that he deserved leniency precisely because of his privileged upbringing. His lawyer called as a witness a psychologist who claimed that Mr. Couch had affluenza, meaning he was too spoiled to know right from wrong. What was striking about Mr. Couch’s defense was that his lawyers argued that he deserved leniency precisely because of his privileged upbringing.
The defense’s argument drew angry reactions, as did its result: A judge sentenced Mr. Couch, who was 16 at the time of the accident, to probation, not to the prison sentence prosecutors had requested, She also prohibited him from drinking. A headline on an article about the case in TheWeek.com read, “Being rich is now a get-out-of-jail-free card.” The defense’s “affluenza” argument drew angry reactions, as did the sentence of probation, which included a prohibition on drinking alcohol, and a requirement that he complete a rehabilitation program. A headline on an article about the case in TheWeek.com read, “Being rich is now a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
In November, the Tarrant County district attorney’s office asked that Mr. Couch’s case be transferred from juvenile court to adult court, which could impose stricter probation terms. Then, this month, a Twitter user posted a six-second video that appeared to show Mr. Couch, barely out of a rehabilitation program, at a drinking party with other youths, and prosecutors began looking into whether he had violated the terms of his probation, which could result in up to 10 years in prison.
Days later, Mr. Couch and his mother disappeared. His probation officer could not find him, he was entered in the national fugitives database, and the juvenile court issued the equivalent of an arrest warrant for him. The authorities said they believed Mrs. Couch had helped her son flee, and they declared her a missing person.
The case dates to June 15, 2013, when Mr. Couch and some friends stole beer from a store and later went for a drive with him at the wheel. Speeding on a dark country road outside Burleson, a suburb of Fort Worth, he plowed a pickup truck into four pedestrians, killing all of them, and hit two vehicles before his truck flipped over. A teenager who was among Mr. Couch’s passengers was thrown from the vehicle and was left paralyzed and brain damaged.The case dates to June 15, 2013, when Mr. Couch and some friends stole beer from a store and later went for a drive with him at the wheel. Speeding on a dark country road outside Burleson, a suburb of Fort Worth, he plowed a pickup truck into four pedestrians, killing all of them, and hit two vehicles before his truck flipped over. A teenager who was among Mr. Couch’s passengers was thrown from the vehicle and was left paralyzed and brain damaged.
Hours later, Mr. Couch recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for drivers of drinking age, and he tested positive for prescription sedatives. He later pleaded guilty to charges including four counts of manslaughter.Hours later, Mr. Couch recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for drivers of drinking age, and he tested positive for prescription sedatives. He later pleaded guilty to charges including four counts of manslaughter.