A rich Texas teen who fled with his mother to Mexico to avoid possible jail time for breaking his probation in a fatal drunken-driving crash had planned the flight in advance, even holding a farewell party, US authorities say.
Ethan Couch, who became known in the US as the "affluenza" teen during his trial in juvenile court over the deaths of four people in the 2013 crash, was captured by Mexican authorities on Monday in the city of Puerto Vallarta.
During Couch's trial, a psychologist sparked outrage by saying in his defence he was so wealthy and spoiled he could not tell the difference between right and wrong. He was sentenced to 10 years drug-and-alcohol-free probation for intoxication manslaughter - a punishment that critics condemned as privilege rewarded with leniency.
Couch, now 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, fled the country after a video surfaced online apparently showing Couch at a party where beer was being consumed. Authorities had been investigating that video as a potential parole violation.
Couch had missed a mandatory meeting with his probation officer, prompting officials in Tarrant County, Texas, to issue a warrant for his arrest earlier this month.
Couch and his 48-year-old mother were tracked down and captured near Puerto Vallarta's seafront promenade. Mexican authorities said they had been working with the US Marshals Service since Saturday to locate the pair, who were expected to be returned to the US on Wednesday.
"They had planned to disappear," Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told a news conference in Fort Worth, Texas. "They even had something that was almost akin to a going-away party before they left town."
When they arrived back in the United States, Couch would appear in juvenile court and his mother would be arrested for hindering an apprehension, Anderson said.
Ethan Couch's lawyer, Reagan Wynn, declined to comment, saying in a statement he had not had the chance yet to speak with his client.
In the fatal accident, Couch, then 16, was speeding and had a blood-alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit when he lost control of his pickup truck and fatally struck a stranded motorist on the side of the road and three people who had stopped to help.
Sheriff Anderson said last week that the passports for Couch and his mother had been reported missing by the teen's father, who has cooperated with investigators. Fred Couch is divorced from the mother and owns a successful sheet metal business near Fort Worth.
The "affluenza" term was apparently used for the first time explicitly in defence during Couch's trial, but has been a theory in sociological and psychological circles since the late 1990s to explain the impact of indulgent parenting, said Daniel Medwed, a criminal law professor at Northeastern University in Boston.
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