SC couple arrested in connection with 12-year-old Kansas murder mystery

His body was found in a culvert on a gloomy, gray Kansas day by a woman out for a walk.

A 19-year-old college student, German Clerici — who went by his middle name, Luis — had been shot.

On Saturday, more than 12 years later, officers arrested two people half a country away in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

Kristopher and Candace Valadez, both 32, were arrested at a half-million-dollar house in a subdivision just south of Greenville.

Butler County, Kansas, Sheriff Monty Hughey last year asked officers to take a new look at the Clerici case. They are not saying anything beyond a news release that said new interviews uncovered evidence they did not have before.

The Sheriff’s Office did not say how long the Valadezes have been in South Carolina. Court records show they have been in the Upstate since at least 2013, when Candace Valadez was cited for speeding.

Officers also did not reveal what they believe the couple’s tie to Clerici was.

Shauna McKee, who was Clerici’s girlfriend at the time, said on her Facebook page this week she knew the couple from when she worked at a QuikTrip gas station years ago.

Both were reportedly still employed at QuikTrip in South Carolina. They have lived in Lyman and Simpsonville, records show. Kristopher Valadez was cited for speeding in 2014 but had no other brushes with the law, according to court records.

Clerici was a student at Cowley County Community College, according to his obituary.

His mother, Ana Mariscal, wrote on the condolence page shortly after his death that she brought him from Argentina “with a lot of dreams.”

“I never imagine that I would have to say goodbye this way,” she said.

His college adviser, Lacey Rowe, said on the page, “I have never worked with a student who has had so much ambition and drive to do well. Not just in school, but in life! Always a gentleman and respectful!!”

Officers told KWCH12 television station in Wichita in 2019 that they believed Clerici was shot and then taken to the dirt road near where he was found because his shoes were clean and the road was muddy.

He was last seen on Jan. 29, 2010, and his phone was not used after Jan. 30. His mother reported him missing on Feb. 1, and his body was found Feb 6.

His car was found four months later in a parking lot at Wichita State by a mail carrier.

The Valadezes were being held in the Greenville County Detention Center Tuesday on fugitive from justice warrants, awaiting extradition to Kansas to face murder charges.

This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 3:01 PM.