A California man has been indicted on conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder in the November 1996 car-bombing death of Tucson businessman Gary Triano.
Ronald Young, 66, was arrested without incident by police in Yorba Linda, Calif. early Friday morning, said Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.
Detectives are looking for Triano’s former wife, Pamela Phillips, 51, and she will face identical charges when she is found, Dupnik announced during a news conference.
Detectives believe Phillips paid Young $400,000 to kill Triano in anticipation of receiving a $2 million life insurance policy, Dupnik said.
Phillips and Young were both identified as potential suspects within months of Triano’s death at La Paloma Country Club, but authorities couldn’t find Young for nine years.
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The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms asked America’s Most Wanted to profile Young and a tipster led authorities to Young in Florida in 2005.
A search of Young’s belongings turned up a “treasure trove” of evidence linking Young and Phillips to the slaying, including taped recorded conversations between the two, said Lt. Michael O’Connor.
Triano’s mother, Toni Ferrara, 83, was thrilled to hear about the indictment.
Asked to describe what the last 12 years have been like for her, Ferrara replied, “Hell. A living hell. For two years I didn’t get out of bed.”
Triano died Nov. 1, 1996, when his borrowed Lincoln Town Car exploded as he was leaving the club to celebrate his birthday after playing golf.
Triano was killed when someone -- who was within “line of sight” of his car -- remotely detonated a pipe bomb that was 17 inches long, 3 inches in diameter and filled with black powder, Dupnik said.
The bomb was stuffed into a canvas bag that had been placed on Triano’s passenger seat, Dupnik said.
Detectives believe Triano hadn’t locked the car and probably assumed the bag contained a birthday present, said bureau chief Richard Kastigar.
Authorities believe Phillips flew to London and caught a flight to Milan, Italy on Sept. 26, Dupnik said. They had asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement to notify them if she left the country, but they did not.
Federal authorities are working with Interpol in the hopes of tracking her down, Dupnik said.
According to court documents, Pima County sheriff’s detectives have been maintaining a great deal of evidence since Triano’s slaying, including: 15 file boxes with hundreds of taped and transcribed interviews, 80 storage boxes from Triano’s office, 300 separate items collected from the blast scene, Triano’s vehicle, 11 storage boxes of evidence seized from Young, 16 storage boxes of evidence seized from Phillips’ Tucson home, eight computers seized from Phillips, two computers belonging to Young, 32 CDs of photos and three file drawers of other materials relating to the investigation.
