Colombian Fugitive Who Killed His Wife In 1994 Arrested In Belmont

For 28 years, William Hernando Usma Acosta lived a double life, starting a new family to replace the one he ended by murdering his wife.

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BELMONT — A Colombian fugitive who has been living under an alias following the 1994 murder of his wife was arrested in Belmont Wednesday.

According to a release from the FBI’s headquarters in Boston, in 1996, the Seventh Circuit Penal Court of Medellin, Colombia, sentenced William Hernando Usma Acosta to 45 years in prison. Acosta was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated attempted murder, and illegal possession of a firearm, for fatally shooting his wife and attempting to kill his daughter when she tried to intervene in a domestic dispute.

Acosta, 61, came to the United States illegally in 1995 by crossing over the Mexican border. Three years later, while he was living in Somerville, he obtained citizenship after marrying an American woman.

Using the alias “Carlos Alberto Rendon,” Acosta moved to Belmont with his wife and the son he had with her, where he remained until he was arrested.

In June of 2020, special agents in the FBI Boston Division’s Violent Crimes Task Force got a tip that Acosta was living in the Boston area. According to the release, the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force tracked Acosta to his Belmont residence where he was arrested today without incident as he was heading to work in Waltham.

The FBI confirmed that “Rendon” was actually Acosta by comparing fingerprints on a fraudulent Colombian birth certificate Acosta used as part of his 2020 naturalization application for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, to fingerprints provided by the Colombian National Police.

“William Hernando Usma Acosta is a convicted cold-blooded killer who thought he could evade justice by entering the United States and creating a new identity for himself so he could live under the radar. He needs to face justice for what he did, and today’s arrest ensures that he will,” said Joseph Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division. “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will not be a safe haven for those wanted in their native countries, and the FBI will continue to leverage our international partnerships to remove dangerous fugitives like him from our communities.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is going to hand Acosta over to Colombian law enforcement, which initially issued a warrant for his arrest, many years ago.