Police allege these security camera images are of Juan Antonio Reyes and Ana Laura Rodrigues wanted in the first-degree murder of popular teacher Consuelo Valencia-Russo, right.

"You will be caught."

Det. Sgt. Terry Browne to Consuelo Valencia-Russo's killers, July 18, 2009.

The trail to catch these alleged killers was not only cold but ended at the arrivals exit of the airport in Mexico City.

In fact just hours after brutally murdering Consuelo "Connie" Valencia-Russo, Toronto police allege, a Mexican couple jumped a plane from Pearson with her credit card and plans of freedom and obscurity.

Not so fast. Turns out they may be back in Toronto sooner than they thought.

Thanks to a relentless and determined investigation spearheaded by Toronto Police homicide, not only are alleged murderers Juan Antonio Reyes, 23, and Ana Laura Rodrigues, 19, jailed in Mexico City but the process to bring them to back to Toronto to face first-degree murder is well under way.

It's a victory in a case that sure looked bleak at first. Consider that Mexico City has tens of millions of people and the suspects had a home-country advantage.

But unwavering Toronto police went to work, first getting the ducks in a row to start the process with Mexico to extradite them back to face justice once caught.

At the same time, they were working as many leads as were coming in -- trying to track down a neighbourhood where these suspects on the lam may be hiding.

"We are like pit bulls on a bone," Det. Sgt. Terry Browne said at the time.

"At no time did we ever think these people would escape these charges," he said yesterday. "We knew we would catch them."

And they did -- with serious help from La Policia Federal of Mexico, as well as the RCMP.

"It took some time to verify they are the right people," said Browne. "Mexican authorities sent us some pictures and we were able to do that."

There was some satisfaction inside the homicide squad yesterday when it was confirmed the couple in custody since Nov. 21 in Mexico City was, in fact, them.

But there was no celebration. There was a family to notify -- including her 14-year-old son, Nicholas, her almost 80-year-old mother, Gloria, and the boy's father, Cesar Palacio, a well-known city councillor.

They have already been through hell, and those close to them said last night while the news was greeted with relief, it also brought the horror to the forefront once again.

"Cesar closed the door of his office and started to cry," said a source, adding he then sought out his son to let him know.

"She was a wonderful woman and a great mother," Cesar told me several times since of the El Salvador-born woman.

Last night Palacio issued a statement saying "Nicholas and I were relieved to learn of the arrest by Mexican authorities ... for those who had the honour of knowing Connie, this is an occasion of both great relief and great sadness. There is relief in the knowledge that those responsible are now one step closer to justice, but sadness in that these arrests reopen still very fresh wounds."

It's an awful story.

Valencia-Russo, a much-loved 44-year-old Catholic school teacher, mysteriously went missing from her North Toronto home July 7. Her lifeless body was found in the trunk of her own 2009 Toyota Corolla July 9, blocks away in the parking lot of an apartment building at 2645 Jane St., where she once resided.

The motive is not clear, other than it is believed some cash, a debit card and credit card were taken from the victim and later used to purchase the airplane tickets and again to withdraw money in Mexico. "It's a senseless murder," said Browne. "Maybe the suspects can shed more light on it when they come back here."

It will certainly be interesting to hear -- as will details of how Toronto Police learned of their whereabouts. It was not by accident. Browne and Detectives Sarah Andrews, Hannah Bartz, David Dickenson, Anthony Withrow and the TPS forensic experts worked around the clock to scare up clues. They were successful.

Meanwhile Sun reporter Don Peat tracked down a Mexican justice communication indicating a judge had signed an order to arrest them Nov. 6 and they were actually brought into custody Nov. 21.

In the two weeks following there was work trying to confirm they were the right people. Turns out the names they were using were in fact shortened aliases.

In the months ahead the names read out in court will be Ana Laura Rodriguez Rayon and Juan Antonio Reyes Torres -- both charged with first-degree murder just as a homicide detective named Browne had promised.

joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca