Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo – An Argentine man wanted in connection with the 2023 death of model Agostina Jalabert in Playa del Carmen has been arrested in Oregon after an international search lasting more than three years.
Juan Manuel Reverter was taken into custody at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, in Deschutes County, central Oregon, according to information provided by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The operation involved the U.S. Marshals Service, Interpol Washington, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol. American authorities described Reverter as the principal suspect in Jalabert’s death and said investigators allege that he killed her before arranging the scene to resemble a suicide. FOX 12 Oregon first reported the arrest based on information from the Marshals Service.
Reverter, an Argentine national, was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice issued in December 2025 at Mexico’s request. A Red Notice asks police in member countries to locate and provisionally detain a wanted person while extradition or a similar legal process is considered. It is not itself an international arrest warrant, and each country applies its own laws when acting on one, according to Interpol.
Jalabert, a 31-year-old Argentine model originally from Carmen de Patagones in Buenos Aires Province, was found dead on February 18, 2023, inside an apartment in Playa del Carmen’s Paseos de los Olivos neighborhood.
Her sister found her in the bathroom with a belt around her neck and attached to a towel rack. The death was initially handled as a possible suicide. Jalabert’s family immediately challenged that conclusion and pressed Mexican authorities to investigate Reverter, who was her partner at the time.
Details contained in the autopsy later changed the direction of the case. According to reports, the examination documented head injuries, burns and signs of sexual violence. The Quintana Roo Attorney General’s Office subsequently reclassified the investigation as femicide.
The case drew criticism from Jalabert’s family and Mexican women’s rights organizations over the initial response by local investigators. The family said evidence pointing to violence was present from the beginning and argued that the suicide theory delayed the search for the person responsible.
After completing its investigative file, the Quintana Roo prosecutor’s office requested that the case be brought before a judge. Mexican authorities then sought international assistance to locate Reverter, who had left Mexico.
The Red Notice circulated information to law enforcement agencies in several countries where he was believed to have traveled or maintained connections, including the United States, Argentina, Belize and Guatemala. In January, Mexico also sent documentation related to the arrest request to federal judicial authorities in Argentina, according to the National Citizen Observatory on Femicide.
U.S. immigration authorities said Reverter had entered the United States on a temporary visa in August 2024 and remained after it expired. He is now being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody pending removal proceedings.
His arrest does not amount to a conviction. Reverter remains accused of femicide and is entitled to the presumption of innocence until the case is resolved in court.
The next step will depend on proceedings in the United States and action by Mexican authorities. Mexico may seek his formal extradition so that he can face the criminal case in Quintana Roo, but no transfer date or court schedule had been announced as of Friday.
For Jalabert’s family, the arrest ends the international search but begins what could be a lengthy judicial process. Her mother, Carolina Jalabert, told Argentine media that the family felt some relief knowing Reverter was in custody, while recognizing that an extradition proceeding and trial may still lie ahead.
