Reward Offered For Fugitive In 1996 ValuJet Crash

ATLANTA, GA — The FBI is offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of a fugitive airline mechanic who may have played a role in the deadly 1996 crash of an airliner in the Florida Everglades. The mechanic, Mauro Ociel Valenzuela-Reyes, worked for the airline’s maintenance contractor, SabreTech.

He has connections to Atlanta, where his ex-wife and children used to live, and to Santiago, Chile, where he has family and may be residing today under a false identity, the FBI said.

Valenzuela-Reyes fled before his trial in 1999 on federal criminal charges stemming from the plane crash. Investigators determined that he mishandled oxygen generators placed in the DC-9’s cargo hold. The generators, which were missing their required safety caps, ignited and caused the crash.

The FBI also released a wanted poster with photos of Valenzuela-Reyes as he appeared in 1996 and how he may look today.

'We Want Closure'

On May 11, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592 had taken off from Miami International Airport when the pilot reported a fire in the cargo hold about 10 minutes into the flight. The plane was returning to the airport when it pitched nose-down and crashed into the shallow, marshy waters of the Everglades.

The airliner was carrying 110 passengers and crew members; there were no survivors.

“We want closure,” FBI Miami Special Agent Jacqueline Fruge said in a bureau statement. She has been the primary agent on the case since it began, and has worked closely with the crash victims’ families.

“We’ve tried over the years to find him,” said Fruge, who has been a special agent for 29 years and hopes to close this case while it’s under her watch, according to the statement. “It bothers me. I’ve lived and breathed it for many, many years.”

The crash investigation, led by the National Transportation Safety Board, led to new aircraft safety standards. Two other SabreTech employees who were charged in the criminal case were acquitted.

If apprehended, Valenzuela-Reyes would face charges related to the 1996 crash and more federal charges, issued in 2000, for fleeing and failing to appear at his trial, the FBI said.

Fruge said she hopes the new reward and poster — which is being circulated in Chile as well as the U.S. — lead to a tip that brings him to justice and some peace to the victims’ families.

For a detailed FBI description of Valenzuela-Reyes, click here.

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Images: Age-progressed images of Mauro Ociel Valenzuela-Reyes, a fugitive in the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 (FBI); recovery personnel work at the crash site in 1996 in the Florida Everglades (FAA photo).