Fugitive in ABQ caught after 32-years

Santa Barbara, CA (KRQE) - A woman who escaped from a California prison in 1979 has finally been recaptured. She had been living under a false name and living a double-life in Albuquerque.

Police in Santa Barbara, California got a tip that fugitive Nancy Garces would be arriving at an Amtrak Station in that city Tuesday morning. They were waiting for her as she got off the train.

At first, Garces tried to pass herself as Lydia Mendez, the name she had been living under in Albuquerque. But, she later admitted she was Nancy Garces.

Garces escaped from a woman's prison in Chino, California in 1979 after serving only a few months of a two-year sentence for credit card forgery.

Santa Barbara Police said, upon her arrest, "she was very surprised" and "she regrets her decision to come to Santa Barbara."

News 13 went to the home address of Lydia Mendez, as identified by authorities. The woman at the home denied knowing anyone by the name of Lydia Mendez or Nancy Garces. However, neighbors recognized the booking photograph as a woman who lived in the neighborhood.