Fugitive Wanted for 1996 Murder in Chicago Arrested in Riverside County

Awaiting Extradition to Illinois

A fugitive wanted for a 1996 homicide in Chicago, Illinois was arrested in Hemet, California last Tuesday, after the FBI’s regional fugitive task force received information from the FBI’s Chicago Field Office that led to the fugitive’s location, announced Steven Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, and Robert Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office.

Giovanni Spiller, 65, was wanted by the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department after he was identified as a suspect by the Chicago Police Department in a 1996 homicide that occurred in the city of Chicago. In December 1996, an arrest warrant charging Spiller with one count of murder was issued in Cook County, Illinois.

Spiller became a fugitive in 1997 and has eluded capture since. Investigators have sought Spiller in the United States and abroad, and believed he traveled through the Philippines, among other locations. Once Chicago detectives determined that Spiller had fled the state of Illinois, the FBI was asked to join the investigation and a federal warrant charging Spiller with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution (UFAP) was obtained in the Northern District of Illinois in May 1997.

Last week, members of the FBI’s Inland Regional Apprehension Team (IRAT) were contacted after investigators in Chicago received a tip indicating that Spiller could be located at a residence in Hemet, California.

IRAT members responded to the home and, after a short surveillance, located Spiller as he was parking in the driveway of the Hemet residence.

IRAT members positively identified Spiller, who had been using a fictitious name, and he was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, California.

Spiller is being held at the Presley Detention Center pending extradition to Chicago to face prosecution. It is anticipated that the United States government will dismiss the federal warrant charging Spiller with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and that he will remain in custody while he awaits prosecution for the state murder charge by the Cook County District Attorney’s Office.

The fugitive investigation was the result of cooperation by the FBI’s Chicago and Los Angeles Field Offices; IRAT members from the Riverside Police Department, the San Bernardino Police Department, and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department; and the FBI’s legal attaché assigned to the United States Embassy in Manila, the Philippines.

The FBI continues to work with local law enforcement to apprehend violent criminals charged with state crimes who then flee the jurisdiction interstate or internationally. Photos and descriptions of many fugitives wanted by the FBI can be found at FBI.gov.