A man found dead inside a burned out car east of Vancouver, B.C., last fall has been identified as a US citizen on the run from the law.
Stephen Robert Guzzo, originally from the Chicago area, is being described by police as "an international man of mystery."
After being jailed in his home state of Illinois, the 31-year-old moved to Austin, Texas, where he ran into trouble with the law again. Guzzo was out on bail for marijuana cultivation in Austin in 2006 when it is believed he fled to Canada.
Police say once Guzzo moved to British Columbia he adopted the name Gino Portillo, becoming known to people he befriended simply as "Gino." Other times he took the moniker James Woods.
Homicide investigators in British Columbia say the fugitive lived in Surrey for some time, stopping in the Newton area in the summer of 2009, before heading east to Chilliwack.
His body was found inside a torched 1982 Chevrolet Camaro car on a railroad track in suburban Langley on September 23, 2009. The vehicle had been reported stolen.
Guzzo's death posed a puzzle to investigators, who struggled to identify the badly burned body. Authorities released a picture of a gold earring almost a month after the grim discovery in hopes someone would recognize it and shed light into the stalled investigation.
The ball started rolling again when Guzzo's mother didn't hear from her son at Christmas and contacted authorities. A missing persons report suggested her son had disappeared from the southern B.C. region.
Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said the fugitive took active steps to avoid police while he lived in Canada.
"Mr. Guzzo was quite the chameleon, living a life of lies the entire time he was here," he said.
Investigators have not linked his death to the drug and gang-related killings that plagued Metro Vancouver last year, but are hoping to speak with anyone who may have contacted him while he lived in the province. He was known to operate a 1999 blue GMC Jimmy SUV.
