WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Tim Ryan says he's cautiously optimistic about obtaining the extradition of a woman who's been living in Brazil since her husband was found murdered in their Newton Falls home six years ago.
Ryan announced on Wednesday that the Brazilian government has revoked Claudia Hoerig's Brazilian citizenship.
Ryan calls that a first step in the process of extraditing Hoerig to the United States to stand trial for the 2007 murder of her husband, U.S. Air Force Reserve Major Karl Hoerig.
"If she does not qualify and is not a Brazilian citizen and her citizenship is revoked and they do not grant it back to her then she will be processed and sent to the United States and the U.S. marshals will go down and get her," said Ryan during an afternoon satellite interview.
Ryan says that she still may appeal the Brazilian government's decision to revoke her citizenship. But he hopes that won't be a long process.
Congressman Ryan believes that Brazil's decision to revoke Hoerig's citizenship was prompted by an amendment passed by congress that cut funding needed to process Brazilian visas.
Major Karl Hoerig was found shot to death in his Newton Falls home on March 15, 2007.
Claudia Hoerig fled to her native Brazil to evade arrest and trial by taking advantage of Brazil's constitutional provision prohibiting the extradition of its citizens. She became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in September 1999 but continued to claim her Brazilian citizenship.
Ryan, Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, and family members of
the victim have been lobbying for Hoerig's extradition since she fled
the U.S.
"You're up one day and then you get bad news. That's why I don't want to make too much out of it until we know for sure." said Karl Hoerig's father Ed Hoerig. "Once we got her here then I'm going to feel a lot better. That's the biggest concern if she finds out that she lost her citizenship, she may go to a different country and what effort will our government go to get her, I don't know."
Claudia Hoerig
Major. Karl Hoerig
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