A former South Carolina police officer, Dan Hiers Jr., has been returned to the United States from China to face murder and child sex charges. Hiers, 53, was taken into U.S. custody in Shanghai on Wednesday after deputy U.S. marshals traveled to China to escort him back to the United States.

Charges and Background

Hiers is wanted in South Carolina on a Goose Creek warrant charging him with murder and a Dorchester County warrant charging him with criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Investigators allege Hiers shot his wife, 24-year-old Ludimila Hiers, in the back of the head while she slept inside the couple’s Goose Creek home on March 15, 2005.

The killing came just hours before Hiers was scheduled to surrender to face additional child sex charges in Dorchester County. Hiers, a former Charleston Police Department officer, had been suspended in 2004 after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor.

Law Enforcement Response

Dorchester County Sheriff Sam Richardson said his office has been notified that Hiers is being returned to face justice on the criminal sexual conduct with a minor charge filed in 2005. Richardson praised the federal agencies involved in securing Hiers’ return from China, saying their “extraordinary collaboration ensured that a wanted fugitive who attempted to evade justice by fleeing overseas has been returned to face the criminal justice system.”

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.