Minn. prosecutor files charges in '97 killing

Authorities in Minnesota have charged a man in the 1997 killing of an Iowa teen over a drug debt.

The Jackson County prosecutor on Friday charged 40-year-old Juan Humberto Castillo-Alvarez with second-degree murder, kidnapping and assault in the death of 15-year-old Gregory "Sky" Erickson of Estherville, Iowa.

Prosecutors allege members of the Los Crazy Boys gang kidnapped Erickson in Spencer, Iowa, and killed him in southwestern Minnesota over a $1,400 marijuana debt.

Castillo-Alvarez was federally charged in the case in 1997, but fled to Mexico. Those charges were dropped because he could not be extradited. Castillo-Alvarez was charged and convicted in Iowa, but the Iowa Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, saying the state failed to comply with his right to a speedy trial.

He's being held in Newton, Iowa.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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