FORT WORTH, Texas – Before fleeing to Mexico with his mother to avoid prison, the Texas teenager made famous by the defense that he was too rich and spoiled to take responsibility for killing four people in a drunken-driving accident had what amounted to a going-away party, part of an escape plan crafted in advance, law enforcement officials said on Tuesday, hours after the pair were caught.
The teenager, Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, 48, were arrested by Mexican authorities in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta on Monday evening, less than three weeks after they became fugitives. Officials in both countries said Ethan Couch, who they said had dyed his hair and beard in an attempt at disguise, would be returned to Texas to face justice, though how long that would take remained unclear.
“We learned through some interviews that what we suspected all along had happened, that they had planned to disappear, that they even had something that was akin to a going-away party before they left town,” Dee Anderson, the Tarrant County sheriff, said at a news conference in Fort Worth.
Ethan Couch was 16 when he killed four pedestrians in a drunken-driving crash near Fort Worth and pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter.
His case quickly made national headlines twice: When a defense witness testified that he suffered from “affluenza,” too influenced by privilege and his parents’ permissiveness to know right from wrong; and when a judge appeared to accept the argument, and sentenced him to 10 years’ probation, rather than prison.
Early this month, a Twitter user posted a 6-second video that appeared to show Ethan Couch, barely out of an alcohol rehabilitation program, drinking at a party, and prosecutors began looking into whether he had violated the terms of his probation.
Before the video surfaced, prosecutors had already asked the juvenile court that had handled his case to transfer it to adult court, where the penalty for a probation violation could be to spend the rest of his 10-year probation in prison.
A hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 19 on the request to move the case to adult court, and he could face additional charges for fleeing. His lawyers declined to comment, noting that they have not had a chance to speak with him since his arrest.
Anderson told the Associated Press an arrest warrant was being issued for Tonya Couch on charges of hindering an apprehension, a third-degree felony that carries a sentence of two to 10 years in prison. Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said she plans to ask a judge to transfer Ethan Couch’s case to adult court.
