Extremely dangerous escaped convict captured in Mexico

The Orange County District Attorney's office ended their weeklong manhunt for an "extremely dangerous" convict who escaped from a Santa Ana halfway house .

Authorities arrested 20-year-old Ike Souzer in Rosarito, Mexico on Tuesday after receiving information that he may have crossed the border near the San Ysidro area.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office said Souzer was sentenced to 90 days in jail and on formal probation for two years after he pled guilty to a felony vandalism charge. The judge presiding over the case gave Souzer time served, something the prosecutors strongly objected to because of Souzer's violent criminal history.

"My prosecutors have spent years and years trying to do everything they can to keep this violent criminal behind bars, and at every turn, the very judges who are elected to protect public safety have done little to do so and instead have given him break after break after break," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

After getting released from custody, prosecutors said the nonprofit Project Kinship drove Souzer to the halfway house. Prosecutors claimed Project Kinship "spent years advocating for Souzer's release."

He allegedly walked out of the house and never came back. He also failed to contact his probation officer. This was the second time Souzer escaped from the same halfway house.

Prosecutors described him as an "extremely dangerous and violent" criminal after he was convicted of stabbing his mother to death when he was 13 years old, attacking three correctional officers and crafting a shank while he was at the Orange County Jail.

"He isn't 'extremely dangerous' like every news outlet is saying," Berlin Souzer, the suspect's sister, said in 2022. "If he was, they wouldn't have let him out of jail. He is Autistic and hasn't been given the correct coping skills throughout incarceration. He was never taught to deal with the problems he encounters."

She also said her brother had endured a lot of mental and physical abuse, describing him as a "troubled teen" when he was 19 years old.

"This is not someone who deserves a break; he has turned every opportunity to turn over a new leaf into a new opportunity to break the law and defy law enforcement," Spitzer said. "He did not simply walk away and forget to check in with his probation officer."

Souzer also escaped from an Orange County juvenile hall in 2019 and cut off his monitoring device that he was supposed to wear until 2023.