Suspect in 1981 Triple Murder Extradited to Riverside County

Riverside - The suspect in the 1981 slaying of a Cabazon Band of Mission Indians tribal leader and two other people was extradited this weekend from Florida to Riverside County for prosecution, a sheriff's sergeant said today.

One of the victim's survivors, who helped lead detectives to the man she thinks killed her father, expressed happiness that justice is finally being served.

James "Jimmy" Hughes, 52, was flown from Miami, Fla. to Ontario International Airport Saturday by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, said sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez.

Rachel Begley, who is the daughter of victim Ralph Boger, told City News Service today that she is happy Hughes is in custody in California.

"The evidence we have against him is pretty solid," she said.

Begley said she is focusing on the ongoing investigation and is hoping for more arrests in the case.

"It's not over. I am still investigating almost daily. It's not even close to over. I can't say much more than that," she said.

Hughes faces three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy in the deaths of Ralph Arthur Boger, 42, Patricia Roberta Castro, 44, and Alfred Alvarez, 32, who was vice chairman of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians Tribal Council.

The three were found dead July 1, 1981, at 35040 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage.

Hughes, who was security chief for the tribe at the time, is accused of conspiring with three other men to keep Alvarez from exposing alleged illegal activities of the tribe's casino founder John Philip Nichols.

In addition to Hughes and Nichols, court documents identified the co- conspirators as Nichols' son, John Paul Nichols, and Glen Heggstad, who is a martial arts instructor at Coachella Valley Judo Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Palm Desert.

Hughes was arrested as his plane was waiting on the tarmac at Miami International Airport in September. He was scheduled to fly to Honduras, where he has been working there for the past 15 years as a Christian preacher for Jimmy Hughes Ministries, which he founded in 1995.

Begley, the woman who lost her father in the 1981 slayings, now lives in Kentucky and worked alongside Riverside detectives in the case. She runs a Web site called " Exposing the Octopus ", where she chronicles her investigation into her father's death.

The case is known as the "Octopus Murders," because of alleged involvement by police agencies, tribes and political leaders.

The California Attorney General's Office is handling the case because Hughes is a distant cousin of District Attorney Rod Pacheco.

Hughes is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside. He is tentatively set to be arraigned Thursday.