Woman charged with first-degree murder arrested in Peru

RENO — A woman sought by authorities for nearly six years in the poisoning death of a Northern Nevada businessman who was her estranged husband has been arrested in Peru, federal authorities said Thursday.

Nazira Maria Cross, 48, was arrested at her home early Wednesday by Peruvian National Police, according to the FBI.

Cross is accused of poisoning her estranged husband, Michael Cross, 55, in Plumas County, Calif., in July 2008. She then is alleged to have driven him to Lovelock where the couple owned a ranch and buried his body on the property.

Michael Cross owned car dealerships in Reno and Lovelock.

Authorities said Nazira Cross, a native of Costa Rica, fled the United States while autopsy results were pending. She was charged with first-degree murder in Plumas County in 2009.

In a 2012 civil case, a Reno judge ruled that Cross was a “culpable actor” in Michael Cross’s death, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.

U.S. officials have asked that Cross be extradited from Peru to face prosecution.

Cross’s federal fugitive poster has appeared on the Sacramento, Calif., FBI’s website since 2008 when it was first distributed and reported by domestic and international media. The case was also featured on the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”

The FBI said it received information that Cross was living in Peru after a recent rebroadcast of information about the case.

Cross, also known as Nazira Ugalde, and her two adult children were charged by the Nevada attorney general’s office in 2010 on allegations that they faked her death in South America to obtain life insurance payouts on policies she received in Reno, according to the Reno newspaper.