UPDATE: Saatio back on U.S. soil

UPDATE — 11:40 a.m. Monday June 27, 2016 (EDT)

John Saatio is back in the United States.

Houghton County Sheriff Brian McLean tells ABC 10 that Saatio is currently being held at the Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas. According to court records, Saatio was booked at the jail on Saturday.

Officials are currently making plans to bring Saatio back to Houghton. Saatio was arrested by Costa Rican authorities last Tuesday after escaping custody on June 19th.

He escaped from authorities in Houghton County in June of 2015.


Costa Rican police recaptured Upper Peninsula fugitive John Wesley Saatio Tuesday after he escaped an immigration detention center on June 19, 2016. [Courtesy Public Security Ministry]

UPDATE — 11:05 a.m. Saturday June 25th, 2016 (EDT)

Costa Rican Security Minister Gustavo Mata announced that Saatio will be extradited Saturday. Authorities will put him on a commercial flight out of Juan Santamaría International Airport. He will be accompanied by U.S. Marshals.


UPDATE — 1:30 p.m. June 21st, 2016 (EDT)

Fugitive John Saatio is back in custody.

The Tico Times out of Costa Rica reports that Saatio was captured by Costa Rican police in Los Guido, Desamparados, just 48 hours after his escape from a detention center. Saatio reportedly escaped during dinner through a ventilation duct at the San Jose center where he had been detained for nearly three weeks.


COSTA RICA — He’s on the run again.

Houghton County inmate John Saatio has escaped custody from a Costa Rican detention center. According to The Tico Times News, Saatio escaped from an immigration detention center Sunday night.

The 34-year-old Saatio is wanted out of Houghton since last summer on charges of home invasion and destruction of police property. Costa Rican authorities caught Saatio back on June 2nd.

He was scheduled to be extradited back to America later this year. We will continue to monitor this story as more information becomes available.