SAN JOSE >> A man suspected of brutally stabbing an ex-girlfriend he had been stalking 12 years ago has been extradited from Mexico and brought to the Bay Area to answer for a killing in broad daylight that orphaned a 10-year-old boy, authorities said.

Juan Ramirez, 37, was actually arrested by Interpol agents in July but he had been awaiting extradition, which occurred over the weekend. He was formally booked Friday into the Santa Clara County Main Jail, where he is being held without bail, records show.

Ramirez was the one and only suspect in the March 22, 2013, afternoon attack on 29-year-old Sandra Cruzes with a butcher knife in front of Cruzes’ apartment near North First and Hedding streets, not far from the county government, jail, and San Jose Police Department complexes. Ramirez was the subject of a neighborhood manhunt by San Jose police officers, but he eluded capture and was believed to have fled to Mexico.

“Our victim passed away twelve years ago, but she was never forgotten,” San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph said in a statement. “Since the day she was murdered, our homicide detectives worked relentlessly to find the suspect. Now we have … Ramirez back in San Jose, ready to be held accountable for this atrocious killing.”

It has been so long since the initial investigation that one of the lead detectives in the case, John Barg, is now a lieutenant who serves as commander of the SJPD homicide unit.

Cruzes’ family and friends recalled that she met Ramirez three years before her death and that they dated before she ended the relationship because of his verbally abusive and controlling behavior. But Ramirez reportedly would not leave her alone, and in at least two instances he was arrested and jailed after harassing her or breaking into her home, which prompted a judge to issue a restraining order against him.

Neighbors told police and this news organization that in the months leading up to the deadly attack, Cruzes could repeatedly be heard arguing loudly with a man they identified as Ramirez, who was then 25, and telling him to leave, but that he kept returning. Cruzes’ family said after her death that Ramirez’s violent attack may have been triggered by the knowledge of Cruzes reconciling with her ex-husband and father of her son.

Cruzes — a San Jose High School alumna — was remembered as a doting mother, aunt and sister in a big family, who said she worked at a local waste management company but was aspiring to become a private security guard with hopes of buying a home for her young son.

Court records show Ramirez has now been charged with Cruzes’ killing after nearly a dozen years, a resolution that police credited to the work of homicide detectives, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, Interpol, the U.S. Marshals service, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Anyone with information about the 2013 homicide can contact Lt. John Barg at the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or by email at 3640@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.