The Associated Press

MOUNT VERNON — Bail has been raised to $5 million for eight-year fugitive Michael McGuffey, apprehended last week in Mexico in the shooting death of his ex-wife.

Prosecutors sought the increase from the original

$1 million bail, citing concerns that McGuffey’s wealthy family in Brownwood, Texas, could raise the smaller sum and free him to flee again. The current terms require a cash payment of $500,000 — 10 percent of the total — and collateral for the balance.

Skagit County Superior Court Judge Susan Cook increased the bail Tuesday, when prosecutors formally charged McGuffey, 36, with first-degree murder in the 1993 killing of Michele Torres.

McGuffey is to be arraigned Nov. 29 in Superior Court.

Federal authorities are investigating whether McGuffey’s mother got money to him while he was hiding out in Mexico, according to court documents filed by a Mount Vernon police detective. The family owns a nursing home and several other business ventures, the filings say.

Anita McGuffey said Wednesday she has been talking with an attorney, though no formal accusations have been made against her. She said her son’s lawyer advised her not to travel here just yet — otherwise, she’d be in town visiting her son in jail.

"I love him, I believe in him, and I think that things will turn out according to God’s will," she said in a telephone interview with the Skagit Valley Herald.

An arrest warrant for Michael McGuffey was issued Sept. 27, 1993 — the day of his ex-wife’s death. He was arrested Nov. 16 near Guadalajara, Mexico, by Mexican authorities and deported to Los Angeles, where he was handed over to the FBI. The agency transferred him to Mount Vernon detectives for return to Skagit County.

Police believe McGuffey had been living in Mexico for several years, Lt. Ken Bergsma said. At the time of his arrest, he was using an Oklahoma driver’s license bearing the name Mark Allen Price, court documents show.

Bergsma said the FBI received a tip about McGuffey’s whereabouts.

The television show "America’s Most Wanted" has broadcast McGuffey’s photo four times. According to the show’s Web site, a viewer recognized McGuffey and told the FBI he was living in Mexico under the name of Price.

Anita McGuffey said she was told her son had remarried in Mexico and was raising a 6-month-old boy.

Before she was killed, Torres, 25, had been working at a local restaurant and studying to be a legal assistant. She divorced McGuffey weeks before her death and obtained a restraining order against him. The couple, married for seven years, had lived most recently in Anacortes. According to her mother, Torres dropped her married name when the divorce was finalized, a month before her death.

She was shot three times, in the head, chest and neck, as she sat in a car outside her workplace. Witnesses said she and a man matching McGuffey’s description had been arguing in the vehicle.

McGuffey’s car was found 12 days later at an Everett motel. Inside the vehicle were a bloodstained pillow and an empty box of ammunition — the same kind of bullets that killed Torres, court documents say.

According to court documents, McGuffey phoned his mother after Torres’ death to let her know he was OK and that "he never meant for this to happen."

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