Murder Suspect Recaptured After Mistaken Release From L.A. Jail

A murder suspect in a killing incident in a Los Angeles area went free for almost three weeks after released from jail by mistake, but authorities said he was recaptured on Monday.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department identified the murder suspect as the 24-year-old Steven Manzo, who was arrested after a traffic stop in Cypress in Orange County, southeast portion of Los Angeles.

The mistaken release of Manzo on Mar. 9 prompted local law enforcement to conduct a search, closing the downtown Los Angeles freeway that day.

According to NBC News, the sheriff's department clarified that the release of Manzo was not their mistake as the department is just following a court order release.

The murder suspect was arrested in March 2020 after being charged in the 2018 fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man in Long Beach. But he was released after the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office stated that the case was dismissed for a technical reason and then immediately refiled.

The 24-year-old victim was identified as Salvador Corrales, who was found fatally wounded in a vehicle in Bell Gardens, which north of Long Beach.

Based on the police's statement, they believed that the two men got into a dispute in the area which led to the shooting incident.

Mistakenly Released

On Mar. 8, the District Attorney's office stated that a prosecutor dismissed and refiled the case against Manzo and two other co-defendants due to a timing issue.

The office said Manzo had not been taken from jail to court for that hearing, along with two other individuals who were accused in a drug case, refused to waive time in order to postpone the hearing.

But earlier this month, the District Attorney's office said the prosecutor became aware that the defendant had been released from custody "the next day" and alerted the law enforcement. But how the error occurred remained unclear for everyone involved, Los Angeles Daily News reported.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has denied that it was to blame for the mistaken release even they were in charge of running the jails in the area.

To clear out their name, the sheriff's department posted an image on Twitter of what it said the court order that they have received for the release of Manzo.

According to the statement of the sheriff's department, the murder suspect was arrested after members of a fugitive task force spotted him getting into a Nissan Sentra along with other individuals in Buena Park.

The department also said the vehicle spotted was tailed to Cypress, which is close to Buena Park, and the police there, along with the fugitive task force members, conducted "a high-risk traffic stop," Mercury News reported.

The department said they had done an intensive search together with the U.S. Marshals Service and Long Beach Police to recapture the murder suspect.

Manzo was currently booked in Long Beach and was being held on a $4 million bail, based on the Long Beach police's details.

WATCH: Police Continue to Search for Murder Suspect Mistakenly Released from Jail - From NBCLA