STERLING, Va. – Federal and local law enforcement arrested a Newport News, Va., murder suspect this morning who attempted to flee the United States on Monday at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Adrian Salvatore Lewis, 49, accused of killing his wife, Shanita Eure-Lewis, 35, was escorted from the airport by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents and Newport News Police detectives around 4:15 a.m. today. Newport News Police Department announced the arrest this afternoon.
Newport News Police announced on Monday that Eure-Lewis was missing and sought the public’s help.
Customs and Border Protection officers and HSI agents initially encountered Lewis at the departure gate for a flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica, at 10:45 Monday. Lewis was wanted for questioning in his wife’s disappearance. CBP and HSI detained Lewis and returned him to CBP’s inspection station.
CBP officers secured Lewis in a detention cell. Shortly before noon, CBP officers and HSI agents searched Lewis’s baggage and discovered his wife’s passport and credit cards.
Newport News Police detectives arrived about 1:30 p.m. Monday and were briefed on the contents of Lewis baggage.
Lewis refused to speak with detectives without an attorney present.
At 4:10 a.m. today, Newport News Police detectives served him with an arrest warrant for first degree murder. Newport News Police detectives and HSI agents escorted Lewis out of the airport at 4:15 a.m.
Criminal charges are merely allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
“This case illustrates how Customs and Border Protection officers and Homeland Security Investigations agents collaborate with our law enforcement partners to catch allegedly dangerous fugitives and return them to stand for their charges,” said Daniel Escobedo, Area Port Director for CBP’s Area Port of Washington, D.C. “Arresting fugitives is one way win which CBP uses our border security authority to support our partners in seeking justice for victims and to help keep our communities safe.”
On a typical day last year, CBP processed more than 650,000 arriving travelers at our nation’s airports, seaports and land border crossings, and officers and agents arrested an average of 25 wanted criminals every day. See what else CBP accomplished during a typical day in 2021.
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a centralized automated database designed to share information among law enforcement agencies including outstanding warrants for a wide range of offenses. CBP officers review passenger manifests of arriving international flights and identify travelers with outstanding arrests warrants on a wide range of charges, including homicide, fraud, larceny, robbery, narcotics distribution, sexual child abuse and child pornography.
Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders. Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.
Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on Twitter at @DFOBaltimore for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos, and CBP’s Office of Field Operations on Instagram at @cbpfieldops.