A tip from a rerun of a decades-old TV show led to an arrest in one of Des Moines' longest-running cold cases. U.S. Marshals arrested 57-year-old Gerardo Garcia-Michel in Ocean County, New Jersey, on August 26, nearly 29 years after he was identified as the suspected driver in the fatal hit-and-run that killed 64-year-old Leslie Ruby on the city's east side.
Ruby was mowing his daughter's lawn in the 3400 block of Easton Boulevard on September 29, 1997, when he was struck and carried roughly 150 feet by the impact, according to KCCI. Ruby's home and his daughter's home sat across the street from each other along the same stretch of Easton Boulevard, as Radio Iowa reports. Garcia-Michel was 28 years old at the time and was quickly identified as the suspected driver, but he left Iowa before officers could arrest him.
Des Moines police in 1997 tracked down an abandoned vehicle matching the one involved in the crash, and investigators relied heavily on witness interviews to build their case, per the station's report. Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said detectives back then simply didn't have the tools investigators use today. The investigation also lacked Ring-camera and traffic-camera video.
A Rerun Cracks the Case Wide Open
Garcia-Michel reportedly went to Southern California after the hit-and-run before eventually settling in New Jersey, and the felony arrest warrant against him stayed active for nearly three decades, the article notes. The case first drew national attention when America's Most Wanted profiled it sometime after the crash, but according to the Des Moines Police Department, it took a rerun of that same broadcast nearly 28 years later to finally shake loose a usable lead.
A neighbor in Garcia-Michel's New Jersey apartment building recognized him from the rerun and called it in to Crime Stoppers, prompting a new identification that connected him to the decades-old Iowa warrant. Dan Anderson, who lives next door to Ruby's former home, is among those still tied to the neighborhood where the tragedy unfolded. The tip shows how a rerun can bring a decades-old case back to authorities' attention.
What Comes Next in Court
Garcia-Michel now awaits extradition to Iowa. He remains detained in New Jersey pending that transfer.
The case centers on Ruby's fatal 1997 hit-and-run. It remains unclear whether Garcia-Michel will contest extradition.
A Family's Long Wait for Answers
Ruby's wife and daughter both died in the years following the 1997 hit-and-run, according to KCCI's reporting. Des Moines police notified Ruby's granddaughter of the arrest, and she said it was nice to know that justice was going to be served, though she did not respond to a follow-up request from KCCI. Parizek said the case shows exactly why authorities keep telling these stories publicly, since raising awareness can eventually shake a fresh tip loose even after decades have passed.
America's Most Wanted once profiled Ruby's case, and a rerun helped generate a tip nearly three decades later. The case stems from the fatal hit-and-run that killed Ruby in Iowa in 1997.
