Captured Fugitive Wouldn't Be Executed
Russell Winstead spent two years eluding U.S. authorities who wanted him in the slaying of his aunt, but his luck ran out at a casino in Costa Rica.

Winstead was arrested Tuesday in the Costa Rican capital of San José.

"It's a day we've been waiting for," said Hopkins Commonwealth's Attorney David Massamore, Kentucky, who expects to try Winstead on charges of murder and first-degree robbery.

Winstead, 40, fled in June 2003. A month later he was indicted in the death of 85-year-old Ann Branson, a Madisonville businesswoman. She was found beaten and stabbed in her basement in January 2003.

Massamore said yesterday that it is unlikely that he will be able to seek the death penalty because of Costa Rica's unwillingness to extradite suspects if death or life in prison without parole are sentencing options.

"Unless a miracle happens, the only way he can be extradited to the United States for trial on murder would require a waiver of those two options as punishment," Massamore said.

"And I have been told by the (U.S.) Secretary of State's office that if I did not do that, then he would be in Costa Rica forever. They wouldn't return him."

Massamore said he would like to seek the death penalty, but would agree to the Costa Rican officials' conditions in order to bring Winstead back. In such a case, Massamore said he would seek the toughest punishment still available -- life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years.

Authorities said they were pleased with the arrest and had never lost hope. "We knew we would get him, it was just a matter of time," said Madisonville police Capt. Marc Boggs.

Winstead was arrested without incident Tuesday at the Horseshoe Casino in San José.

A tip from someone who watched a segment featuring Winstead on the television show "America's Most Wanted" led authorities to him, according to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the law-enforcement arm of the State Department.

Even with assurances that Winstead would not face the death penalty if convicted, the extradition process could take several months, the department said.

Winstead fled Kentucky a month before his July 2003 indictment by a Hopkins County grand jury. "The timing would indicate that he may well have learned or suspected that the evidence we were waiting for was about to be received and he left about that time," Massamore said.

Authorities had suspected for some time that Winstead had wound up in Costa Rica.

Branson owned rental property and once owned the local Dairy Queen.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Stu Recke, a spokesman for the Madisonville post, said Branson's records showed that Winstead owed her thousands of dollars. Winstead apparently borrowed the money to feed his gambling habit, Recke said.