This undated photo taken by Mexican Authorities and provided Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Juan Salaz.AP/Texas Department of Criminal Justice 
 
 A Texas prison escapee on the run for almost 16 years has been captured by authorities in Mexico and awaits extradition to the U.S. to finish serving his sentence on charges of attempted capital murder of a police officer, state Department of Criminal Justice officials said Wednesday. 
 
 Juan Salaz was apprehended last week. The 37-year-old American citizen had been sought for years by authorities on both sides of the border. 
 
 Salaz escaped the night of March 22, 1997, from the Garza East prison in Beeville in South Texas by climbing over three 16-foot fences all topped with razor wire. 
 
 At the time, he was serving three concurrent 35-year sentences for aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer for a 1995 incident involving two Houston officers. 
 
 He now also faces a felony escape charge besides serving the remainder of his sentence. 
 
 Prison records show on April 2, 1995, Salaz and another man, Geronimo Soto Alvarado, abducted a man at gunpoint and demanded a ransom. Houston police undercover officers involved in the case arranged for the exchange. After the abducted man was freed, they identified themselves as police and Salaz and Alvarado opened fire on them. A police sergeant avoided serious injury when he was saved by his body armor. Another officer suffered a hand wound. 
 
 Salaz was seriously wounded when police returned fire. He recovered from his injuries and subsequently pleaded guilty. 
 
 Alvarado, now 45, also was arrested and is serving a life sentence for two convictions of aggravated assault and another for aggravated kidnapping. 
 
 Prison officials said sources for years had told them Salaz was hiding out in Mexico but he managed to evade police. The hunt for him involved the U.S. Marshals Service, the Texas prison system's Office of Inspector General and Mexican law enforcement agencies. 
 
 "Salaz thought that he had eluded authorities by starting a new life in Mexico," Department of Criminal Justice Inspector General Bruce Toney said Wednesday. "He was wrong." 
 
 Salaz is to be returned to Texas custody once the Mexican government approves his extradition. 
 
 Salaz's capture leaves Jose Fernando Bustos-Diaz, 24, as the lone Texas prison fugitive. He fled in April 2010 from the Brisco Unit in Dilley, near San Antonio. The prison houses medium- and minimum-security inmates. He also is believed to have fled to Mexico. 
 
 Bustos-Diaz was serving 35 years for a 2005 murder in Harris County. ||||| Page 1 of 1 
 
 Former Houston Police Department homicide detective Jim Binford shows the bullet that was ﻿removed from his body after ﻿a shootout ﻿involving fugitive Jose Salaz in April ﻿1995. 
 
 Jose Salaz is the only prisoner to escape from the Texas prison system and still remain at large. 
 
 A man who escaped from a Texas prison 16 years ago has been captured in Mexico, authorities said Wednesday. 
 
 Juan Salaz, an American citizen, was captured last week and remains in Mexico awaiting extradition, authorities said. 
 
 Salaz escaped on March 22, 1997 from the Garza East Unit in Beeville, southeast of San Antonio. He was serving three concurrent 35 years sentences for two counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer and aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon. 
 
 He climbed over three 16-foot razor wire topped security fences. 
 
 As recently as three years ago, investigators suspected Salaz was is in the vicinity of Monterrey, Mexico. At that time, investigators said they suspected Salaz has crossed back and forth between Mexico and Texas with help from family in Houston.
– A Texas inmate who escaped from prison nearly 16 years ago has been caught in Mexico, reports the Houston Chronicle. Juan Salaz, a 37-year-old US citizen, climbed a 16-foot fence outside a San Antonio prison in 1997 and made his way to a new life in Mexico. It's not clear how he got caught, but authorities in both countries were on the case. Salaz was serving a 35-year sentence for, among other things, trying to kill a police officer, reports Fox News. His capture leaves Texas with one remaining fugitive inmate: Convicted murderer Jose Fernando Bustos-Diaz, 24, busted out in 2010.