Federal agents closed in on a busy Indian restaurant in Indianapolis on June 15, 2026, bringing an end to an intensive, multi-state manhunt for a fugitive who authorities feared had died long ago. Alejandro Mancera Canchola, wanted for attempted first-degree murder, was taken into custody after a brief foot chase, ending 18 months on the run.
The charges against Canchola stem from a violent assault on December 17, 2024, in LaFollette, Tennessee. According to police reports, Canchola went to the South Avenue home of his girlfriend, with whom he shared an infant child. During the encounter, Canchola slashed the woman’s throat from ear to ear. The assault was interrupted only because the blade of the knife snapped off inside the victim’s neck.
While Canchola went to retrieve a second knife to finish the attack, he told the victim that he had already killed his first wife and buried her body in the backyard of their home in Mexico. Fearing for the safety of her baby, the victim managed to convince Canchola to take the child to a neighbor’s house. As soon as he stepped outside, she seized the opportunity to escape. She stuffed a towel into her neck wound to slow the bleeding and crawled out to the street, where passing motorists spotted her and dialed for emergency medical assistance.
Canchola realized she had escaped, stole her car, and fled the scene. The victim was rushed to Tennova Medical Center in LaFollette before being transferred to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville for extensive surgeries. Doctors successfully removed the broken blade from her neck, and she has since made a full recovery…