Connecticut Murder Suspect Arrested in Puerto Rico

New Haven, CT - The U.S. Marshals (USMS) in Puerto Rico today arrested a Waterbury man wanted for murder following a violent dispute in Hartford Nov. 19.

Lance Benuet Morales, 23, is alleged to have shot and killed a 4-month-old baby and the child’s 20-year-old mother and injured a third person.

After the Hartford Police Department identified Morales as the prime suspect in the shooting, an arrest warrant was issued, charging him with two counts of murder, first-degree assault, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault, and murder with special circumstances.

In collaboration with the Hartford Police, after U.S. Marshals in Connecticut and Massachusetts developed information that Morales had fled to Puerto Rico, they sent a collateral lead to the USMS Puerto Rico Violent Fugitive Task Force, who found and arrested Morales today at a residence in the barrio of Fajardo.

Morales was transported to the Fajardo Police Department for processing and formally charged as a fugitive from justice. He is awaiting extradition to Connecticut, where he will face the charges against him.

“Since the commission of this senseless and heinous act of violence, investigators from the Hartford Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Task Forces in Connecticut and Puerto Rico have tirelessly worked around the clock to bring the suspect to justice,” said acting U.S. Marshal for the District of Connecticut Lawrence Bobnick. “This arrest is a testament to the close collaboration between the U.S. Marshals Service and our valued law enforcement partners and it demonstrates the reach these partnerships bring to the pursuit of justice.”  

Since the inception of the U.S. Marshals – Connecticut Violent Fugitive Task Force in 1999, these partnerships have resulted in over 14,462 arrests (Updated as of 02/09/2024). The task force’s objective is to seek out and arrest violent fugitives and sexual predators. Membership agencies include Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Naugatuck, Waterbury Police Departments, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These arrests have ranged in seriousness from murder, assault, unregistered sex offenders, probation and parole violations, and numerous other serious offenses. Nationally the U.S. Marshals Service fugitive programs are carried out with local law enforcement in 94 district offices, 85 local fugitive task forces, eight regional task forces, as well as a growing network of offices in foreign countries.