Jeff Miller: “I first became involved in extradition reform in 1997 when there was a horrible crime in my district in Sarasota…”

“I first became involved in extradition reform in 1997 when there was a horrible crime in my district in Sarasota, Florida. Sheila Bellush, a mother of six, was brutally murdered in her home while her 2-year-old quadruplets watched. The murderer, Jose Luis Del Toro, immediately fled to Mexico where he managed to avoid extradition for almost 2 years. The Mexican government demanded that we waive the death penalty in order to have him returned to the U.S. Despite our cooperation, they still held up his extradition for over a year. This kind of policy is not acceptable. We are dealing with cases of Americans, killing other Americans, on American soil. No foreign country has the right to interfere in the just prosecution of these criminals! Unfortunately, the Del Toro case is not an isolated one. In 1977 in Philadelphia, Ira Einhorn brutally murdered Holly Maddux. He bludgeoned her to death and then shoved her body in a steam chest where she remained in his closet for 18 months. While waiting to stand trial for this heinous crime, Einhorn fled overseas. He is now in France, successfully avoiding extradition by continuously hiding behind false claims regarding his case.”