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A former South Carolina police officer accused of killing his wife before disappearing for more than two decades has been returned to the United States from China to face murder and child sex charges, the U.S. Marshals Service announced Thursday.
Dan Hiers Jr., 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.
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, the Marshals Service said.
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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.
Authorities said the killing came just hours before Hiers was scheduled to surrender to face additional child sex charges in Dorchester County.
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.
“Daniel Hiers was entrusted to serve the public as a police officer. Instead, he is accused of betraying that trust and preying upon a child,” Richardson said. “No badge, title, or position will ever place someone above the law.”
Hiers, a former Charleston Police Department officer, had been suspended in 2004 after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor. He was arrested Nov. 24, 2004, on a charge of committing or attempting a lewd act upon a child under 16, according to South Carolina court records.
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Additional charges were filed in March 2005, but Hiers failed to appear in court. The case has remained unresolved ever since.
The U.S. Marshals Service placed Hiers on its 15 Most Wanted list in June 2005, identifying him as one of the agency’s highest-priority fugitives.
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“Dan Hiers was in a position of public trust, but he betrayed that trust in the worst possible way,” U.S. Marshals Director Gadyaces S. Serralta said in a statement. “Placing him on our 15 Most Wanted list made his capture a priority for this agency. His return to South Carolina is both significant and rewarding, and we thank our domestic and international partners for their tireless persistence in bringing this fugitive to justice.”
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A Marshals Service wanted poster described Hiers as “armed and dangerous” and noted he was a former police officer with 11 years of law enforcement experience who was trained in police tactics and martial arts.
The poster also said Hiers had allegedly stated he would not go to prison and might force an armed confrontation.
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The Marshals Service said the operation to return Hiers involved China’s Ministry of Public Security, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the FBI.
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Goose Creek police said Hiers’ return marks the end of a decades-long effort to bring him back to South Carolina.
“The extradition of Dan Hiers means that justice can finally be served for the lives he destroyed,” the Goose Creek Police Department said in a statement. “We are deeply appreciative of the U.S. Marshals Service for never wavering in its efforts to bring this fugitive back to the United States, and for keeping us updated over these long years of waiting.”
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“We also thank the State Department, Justice Department, and the FBI for their assistance,” the department added. “We knew that there was a possibility Mr. Hiers would never be brought back to the U.S. — the fact that he has is a credit to the United States’ commitment to justice.”
The international operation also drew praise from the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, which helped coordinate Hiers’ return to the United States.
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“The Diplomatic Security Service was proud to stand alongside the U.S. Marshals Service and our Chinese law enforcement counterparts to ensure Dan Hiers finally answers for his crimes,” Nicholas Collura, principal deputy assistant secretary for diplomatic security and director of the Diplomatic Security Service, said in a statement.
Richardson also 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.”
The Hiers case was featured multiple times on “America’s Most Wanted” and “The Hunt with John Walsh” as investigators searched for him over the past two decades.
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It was not immediately clear when Hiers would make his first court appearance in South Carolina.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Marshals Service, Goose Creek Police Department and the Charleston Police Department for additional information about Hiers’ return to South Carolina and the status of the pending criminal cases.
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