A missing toe helps police capture ‘Most Wanted’ man accused of killing girlfriend over a decade ago
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A Texas man with a missing toe was arrested in Mexico on Tuesday after being on the run for 11 years. He’s accused of the 2006 murder of his girlfriend.

The Houston Chronicle reports that it was 52 year-old William Joseph Greer’s missing toe on his right foot that helped authorities identify him and arrest him on murder charges. The media widely publicized Greer’s missing toe in 2006, after the death of Tammy Marie Esquivel, 28. Greer reportedly killed Esquivel in their Houston, Texas, home on Dec. 19.

Tammy Marie Esquivel [Photo: Police Handout]
Greer fled the home after his girlfriend’s death, but three days later, police found the half naked suspect wandering aimlessly in a ditch in Cleveland, Texas, after he apparently crashed his car while drinking and driving. He reportedly confessed that he shot Esquivel in the chest during a heated argument. Although police arrested the suspect for public intoxication, they let him go after they couldn’t gather enough evidence to hold him on Esquivel’s death.

“We had a confession on video, but without evidence to match it we had to let him go,” said Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Richard Hunter.

On Dec. 30, Esquivel’s two sons, ages 9 and 13 at the time, told detectives that they witnessed Greer drag their mother into the master bedroom of the home, where the couple reportedly argued and screamed at each other. A few minutes, the boys heard a gunshot, followed by a gurgling noise. The boys’ accounts gave police enough evidence to obtain a warrant for Greer’s arrest, but he had already fled. He allegedly hid the victim’s body, which still has not been found.

On Tuesday, police found the missing toe man riding on a scooter in Nacajuca, Mexico, where he lived with a woman and two children. According to authorities, Greer, who was living under an alias name, was known as “El Gringo” to the locals. He spoke Spanish proficiently, suggesting that he’s likely been living in Mexico for years.

“William Greer is a good old country boy,” Hunter stated. “He didn’t speak a lick of Spanish before he went down there.”

Greer is currently in the custody of Mexican officials in Mexico City, while awaiting the extradition process back to Texas.

The suspect was placed on the Marshals “Most Wanted” list in 2016. Check back with CrimeOnline as additional information becomes available.

[Feature Photo: William Joseph Greer/U.S. Marshals Service]