Denver says Pedro Rios-Lopez was arrested in Mexico in Berta Rios-Lopez's 2012 killing.

An arrest and a first-degree murder charge after a cold-case manhunt are the accusation. They are not a conviction, and extradition is still process. CBS Colorado reported he is awaiting return to Denver. A charge is not a finding that he stabbed Berta Rios-Lopez.

CBS Colorado reported that nearly 14 years after Berta Rios-Lopez was stabbed to death inside her home on South Bryant Street in Denver's Valverde neighborhood on April 28, 2012, the man accused of killing her has been arrested in Mexico and is awaiting extradition to Colorado. The station identified that man as her estranged husband, Pedro Rios-Lopez, and reported that he faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with her death. An arrest abroad on a Colorado murder charge is still an accusation. It is not a finding of guilt.

Hoodline reported that Denver police announced the arrest and credited the department's Cold Case Unit, the Denver Crime Lab, and the Safe Street Task Force. Hoodline quoted Denver police as saying those units' work "brings us one step closer to justice for the victim and her family." Hoodline, citing earlier Westword coverage of the case, reported the Denver coroner's office identified the victim as Berta Lopez, age 43, and listed the cause of death as multiple stab wounds. A police announcement of an overseas arrest is status. It does not decide how a Colorado jury would weigh the evidence.

CBS Colorado reported that a close friend of Berta Rios-Lopez, who asked to remain anonymous, said the couple had been separated for years before reconnecting around a child's birthday, and that Berta told her Pedro had threatened to kill her and her daughters. The friend said she urged Berta to get a restraining order and that the night before the killing friends celebrated a work promotion at a Denver nightclub. According to that friend, as CBS Colorado described it, people who drove Berta home saw her estranged husband outside and urged her not to get out, and she insisted she could handle him. Those are a friend's account to a reporter. They are not trial findings.

CBS Colorado reported the Denver District Attorney's Office says Pedro Rios-Lopez has been arrested in Mexico, faces first-degree murder, and is awaiting extradition to Denver. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the coverage CBS Colorado framed around the friend's comments. A first-degree murder charge awaiting extradition is the public status of the case. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.