Ex-Amazon Mexico CEO 'Paid Hitmen $9K To Murder His Estranged Wife': Court Hears

Former CEO of Amazon Mexico, currently on the run, hired hitmen and paid $9,000 for murdering his estranged wife, a court has heard.

Juan Carlos Garcia has been accused of hiring two hitmen to kill his wife Abril Pérez Sagaón, while the two were fighting a divorce case in court in 2019. Sagaón was fatally shot in front of two of her children in November 2019, when she was in Mexico City for a scheduled court hearing, NY Post reported.

Sagaón filed for divorce from her husband and accused him of trying to kill her in January 2019 by beating her with a baseball bat while she slept.

Garcia, who was taken into custody for the assault was in pre-trial detention for 10 months. However, a court later released him after reducing his charges to domestic violence, Business Insider reported.

Sagaón was fatally shot by a gunman when she stopped at a traffic light while traveling with her two children and attorney. She had a restraining order against Garcia at the time of her murder, and her family alleged he was behind her death.

"The attack was totally directed at her. And the only enemy she had in her life was him," an unidentified family member told a local news outlet, El Pais.

During a trial that began last week, one of the hitmen testified in court that he was offered an additional $2,500 to murder Sagaón before the court hearing in the case she filed against Garcia.

Sagaón was murdered on International Day Of Violence Against Women and the incident sparked outrage in Mexico on increasing gender-based violence in the country.

Garcia joined Amazon Mexico operations when the company opened its first office in Mexico in 2014. After serving three years as CEO, he left the company to join the commerce group Elektra.

After his wife's alleged murder, Garcia reportedly fled Mexico and entered the U.S. on foot through a checkpoint near San Diego. He later sent a letter to the mayor of Mexico City proclaiming his innocence. Interpol has now issued a warrant in 190 countries for arresting Garcia who is still on the lam.