'Violent criminal' from OC caught in Mexico after 3rd escape from custody

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- An "extremely dangerous and violent criminal" who had escaped from custody multiple times has been captured again in Mexico, the Orange County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.

Ike Nicholas Souzer, 20, escaped from a halfway house in Santa Ana last week, where he had been transported after a release from jail on probation.

Souzer's criminal history includes the killing of his own mother, attacking correctional officers and two prior escapes from custody.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, working with Mexican officials caught Souzer in Rosarito on Wednesday after receiving information from OCDA investigators.

Souzer had been brought to the halfway house after serving a 90-day sentence for vandalism after he was caught spray-painting a freeway underpass.

But the DA's office says it has fought repeatedly for harsher sentences over the years for Souzer's multiple offenses given his criminal history.

At age 13, Souzer fatally stabbed his own mother and was later convicted of voluntary manslaughter. While on trial for that case, he escaped from juvenile hall in 2019, but was arrested the next day at a McDonald's in Anaheim.

While in custody, he was convicted in December 2021 of attacking three correctional officers.

In 2022, Souzer escaped from a Santa Ana halfway house, prompting a similar warning from the DA's office. He was caught days later at a homeless encampment in Anaheim.

He was convicted in 2023 of making and possessing a shank while in jail. Prosecutors sought a three-year sentence on that case but he was sentenced to one year in custody and two years of supervised release. He was free in three months on credit for good behavior and work time, and then was arrested days later on the vandalism charge.

"This is not someone who deserves a break; he has turned every opportunity to turn over a new leaf into a new opportunity to break the law and defy law enforcement," Orange County DA Todd Spitzer said in a statement. "He did not simply walk away and forget to check in with his probation officer. The second he was out of custody he set a plan in motion to flee to a foreign country in yet another attempt to escape the consequences of his actions."