A man accused of killing his wife in 2011 has died. He never went to trial. Francisco De Hoyos Moncada was 53. He died Monday at a Laredo hospital. The Webb County Sheriff's Office confirmed his death.

De Hoyos Moncada spent almost 15 years on the run in Mexico. He came back to Laredo on January 7. He was extradited. That means Mexico sent him back to face charges here. He faced a first-degree murder charge. Under Texas law, that charge can carry 5 years to life in prison. His death ends a case that took almost 15 years and two countries to reach a courtroom. South Texas will never get the trial that could have explained that night in 2011.

Police say De Hoyos Moncada killed his wife, Alma De Hoyos, on March 14, 2011. She was found dead inside her apartment on Elm Street in Laredo. Police called it a domestic violence case. That means violence between people in a relationship. He ran from the country soon after. For years he had no known address. Investigators finally tracked him to Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico, far from the Texas border.

Cold cases like this one are hard to solve. Years pass. Witnesses move away. They forget details too. A suspect can hide across the border. U.S. police have no power to arrest him there. Laredo sits right on that border. Cases like this one are common in South Texas. An extradition can take years of paperwork. Two governments have to agree. This case took almost 15 years to bring De Hoyos Moncada back to a Texas courtroom.

Bringing him back took a team. The U.S. Marshals Task Force worked with the Webb County District Attorney's Office. The Webb County Sheriff's Office helped too. So did Texas DPS and the Laredo Police Department. Together they flew him back to Texas in January. That was almost 15 years after the killing.

Once he landed in Laredo, he was arrested and charged. He was set to wait for trial. Instead, he needed medical care right away. Court records show he got treatment at a Laredo hospital ever since his arrest. He had a terminal illness. That means doctors could not cure it.

The illness caught up with the case fast. At a hearing on June 30, lawyers told the judge he was in the hospital. The judge pushed the last pretrial hearing back to July 29. He never made it to that date. He died six days early, on July 6. His case was still open. No jury ever heard it.

Here is what happens when a defendant dies before trial. The criminal case against him usually ends. Courts cannot convict a dead man. He cannot stand up and defend himself either. The murder charge against De Hoyos Moncada is expected to be thrown out. A case cannot move forward without a living defendant. He was never convicted of any crime in his wife's death. The charge against him stays just that, a charge. No jury ever got to weigh it.

Sheriff Martin Cuellar said his office is following normal rules. Those rules apply any time someone