Hispanic fugitive Luis Rodriguez-Mena has been charged with killing flight attendant Young Kavila in her apartment

Police have long been searching for Luis Rodriguez-Mena, who is charged with slitting Young Kavila's throat from ear to ear with a knife in 1999. The end of the case could bring Kavila's family in Korea a sense of justice. According to police, Kavila was returning to her apartment after work at about 10 p.m. when Rodriguez-Mena somehow got inside. Rodriguez-Mena lived in a building across the parking lot with his family and then-girlfriend, police said. Kavila tried to fight him off with a 2-inch razorblade, but that angered Rodriguez-Mena, police said. He used a boot knife that he carried to slash her throat, authorities said. The woman's roommate, also a flight attendant, found a nearly decapitated Kavila surrounded by blood, wearing only her bra, minutes after the attack. At the apartment, police found DNA at the scene, but experts could determine only that the killer was of Mexican descent. Police scoured the area looking for the attacker. Rodriguez-Mena and his then-girlfriend took a bus to Mexico hours after the slaying, officials now say. At the time, the case had gone stale. But in 2007, family members who fled Mexico came forward and said that Rodriguez-Mena had been bragging about the murder, authorities said. He had scars on his chest, stomach and hip area, which he claimed were from a gang fight, the family members told investigators. Sometime later, police tracked down the woman who was Rodriguez-Mena's girlfriend in 1999. She had left Mexico with their son, according to authorities. The ex-girlfriend allowed police to test her child's DNA, which confirmed Rodriguez-Mena's blood was at the scene, police said. In about 2008, Rodriguez-Mena disappeared from his hometown in Mexico, police said. Police said that he may be around the Chicago area, possibly working construction or factory jobs.