Only On 3: ‘Octopus Murder’ Suspect Caught On Hidden Camera

Riverside County Sheriff’s Detectives arrest a man they believe got away with a triple murder for over 28 years.

News Channel 3 first told you about the arrest of Jimmy Hughes on KESQ.com Saturday afternoon.

On July 1st, 1981, Fred Alvarez, his girlfriend Patty Castro, and friend Ralph Boger were shot to death at 35040 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage. There was a house there that has since been bulldozed.

This cold case is known as the “Octopus Murders,” a term coined by investigative journalist Danny Casolaro in 1991, because the murder plot has tentacles that reach into our police agencies, Indian tribes and political leaders.

Detectives now believe it was a contract killing and that, 52 year old Jimmy Hughes is the hitman.

Hughes was arrested as his plane was waiting on the tarmac at Miami airport Saturday morning. He was on his way to Honduras, where he now runs a Christian ministry.

Nearly 30 years ago, Hughes was security chief for the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians.

Tribal Vice Chairman Fred Alvarez was going to blow the whistle on weapons manufacturing deals between the tribe and defense contractors, including Wackenhut Corporation.

Those weapons deals later turned into database software development that became a major spy scandal known as “PROMIS” with national security impacts to this day.

Rachel Begley, daughter of murder victim Ralph Boger, confronted Hughes last year with a hidden camera and demanded answers.

Begley said to Hughes, “You were the ‘bagman’ in our father’s murder. I’d like to talk to you about that.”

Hughes, confronted during a break at an evangelical conference in California replied, “I have nothing to say about that. Can’t can’t. Can’t say anything about that”

Hughes added, “I want to forget about a past that is ever so awful and scary in my past. I don’t live there anymore. I don’t got nothing to do with that. Screw the FBI. Screw the police. Screw everybody in my past. The world I live in is screwed up.”

“I wake up in the morning with a clear conscience. Let me tell you something about my past. My past is dead. I don’t care about my past. My past is my past. It’s none of your business. It’s nobody’s business. I don’t care who died. I don’t care who got killed. I was trained in the military. I killed people all over the world, right or wrong because the government ordered me to,” said Hughes.

Hughes even admitted to shooting at least 6 people in the head as a professional hitman on the website of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship.

Hughes explained to Begley, “Your parents got killed. In a mafia hit. That’s life. That’s what happened. Your parents were involved in some very dangerous things. Your dads. That’s the only thing I can tell you. Your dad and I were friends. I knew your dad. He touched… He touched somebody. They gave an order and that is what happened to him.”

“It’s a lot bigger than the murder of this guy or the murder of that guy. It is a big… You’re talking political people,” said Hughes.

From Richard Armitage to William Weld, those political people include a “who’s who” of past Republican Administrations. Documents obtained by News Channel 3 show many of the weapons made on tribal land were meant for the Iran-Contra arms deals.

Hughes claimed, “I was investigated by the FBI. I was indoctrinated by… I was messed around by them. So I don’t care. I can’t tell you anything that the police don’t already know.”

Jimmy Hughes did not waive his right to an extradition hearing in court. That means he’ll be in Miami for a while until he’s flown back to Riverside County to stand trial for three murders. He is being held at Miami’s Pre Trial Detention Center on a no-bail warrant.