Pasco murder suspect caught after 8 years on the run

A man suspected of killing a Pasco nightclub bouncer eight years ago is now in the Franklin County jail.

Adan Virgen-Ponce, 36, was booked early Saturday, with bail set at $1 million.

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant told the Herald that Virgen-Ponce was extradited from Mexico to Seattle, where Pasco detectives arrested him.

Virgen-Ponce was 29 when Pasco police named him as a suspect in the fatal stabbing of Froilan Godines, a bouncer at El Patron Night Club.

Godines was a 41-year-old father of seven.

Monday, Sgt. Scott Warren said no press release is immediately planned with more information on where or when Virgen-Ponce was arrested.

Second-degree murder warrants were issued in February 2010 for Virgen-Ponce and Concepcion Virgen.

However, jail logs show Virgen-Ponce is now being held on first-degree murder.

Witness statements and court documents at the time said Virgen-Ponce and his girlfriend were leaving El Patron at about 1 a.m. Feb. 7, 2010.

Godines stopped the couple to make sure they weren’t taking any alcohol out of the bar.

Virgen-Ponce got upset, documents said. A fistfight broke out between him and Godines on the sidewalk in front of the bar on Lewis Street.

Others outside the bar broke up the fight.

Virgen-Ponce walked away from the fight, but not before allegedly pointing his finger at Godines and saying something like, “I will see you again,” or “I will return,” court documents said.

Virgen-Ponce allegedly went back to his home on West Jay Street to get his nephew “for an errand,” according to a police affidavit at the time.

Meanwhile, Godines closed up the bar, escorted two women to their cars and then headed to his car in the Pasco School District’s parking lot next to El Patron.

The women told police that they saw two men attack Godines.

The description they gave of one of the men matched a description of Virgen-Ponce, according to the affidavit.

Police found Godines lying in the alley at 2:18 a.m., court documents said. He’d been stabbed several times.

Detectives suspected Virgen-Ponce and his nephew fled the region, and possibly the country.

Pasco police at the time emphasized that there was “absolutely no gang relation” in the crime.

Concepcion Virgen, now 28, is still wanted on a second-degree murder warrant, according to Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers.

This story was originally published February 19, 2018 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Pasco murder suspect caught after 8 years on the run."