Tommy "T.J." Halfacre had been on the run for four years.

In the summer of 2004, the then-18-year-old and a friend, Brandon Evans, were accused of shooting and killing an immigrant outside an Aurora apartment complex following a minor traffic incident.

Days later, Halfacre's family shipped him off to Omaha to avoid capture, leaving his friend to take the fall, police said.

Halfacre assumed a new name, Kevin White. Family and friends closed ranks and lied about his whereabouts for years, police said.

Two years after he went on the lam, the trail went cold, and so did the criminal case. Halfacre's case was featured twice on America's Most Wanted, but it produced no solid leads.

"This kid was very close to getting away with the crime," said Aurora Police Detective Frank Fania, who is credited with finally tracking down Halfacre.

"He was extremely lucky because he had everyone covering for him and lying for him. They did everything right. They severed ties with the family here," he added.

But on Halloween night, Half acre's luck ran out. Fania located the fugitive he had been hunting since he first dusted off the cold- case file two years earlier.

Halfacre and Evans had barely turned 18 when police say their lives took a fatal turn the night of July 7, 2004.

Police said Halfacre was angry at the victim, Carlos Orellana, 29, after Orellana cut him off while changing lanes. Both Halfacre and Evans decided to follow Orellana's blue Honda as it turned into an apartment complex and rob him.

After learning Orellana, a Guatemalan native, could "hardly speak English and had no money and no wallet," Halfacre allegedly shot and killed him, according to a witness quoted in Half acre's arrest affidavit.

The same witnesses told police that she heard Evans say to Half acre, "You smoked him, you got him," according to the affidavit.

After the shooting, Halfacre's family persuaded Evans to turn himself in to police. Evans was convicted of first-degree murder in 2005 and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

In the meantime, Halfacre's family put Halfacre on a bus to Omaha, where his mother lived at the time, said Detective Shannon Lucy, spokeswoman for Aurora Police Department.

He later relocated to Kansas City, where he was arrested twice for unrelated incidents but never apprehended because he had no prior record or fingerprints on file with the FBI database to match him to another crime.

Fania teamed with U.S. Marshals in Kansas City. Authorities acting on a tip located Halfacre at his mother's home in Kansas City, where he apparently had been living for four years.

"We knew he was at home with his mom, but police there chose not to arrest him because of trick-or-treaters," Fania said. "I didn't sleep Friday night. I was anxious to get this guy." The next morning, Halfacre was arrested and extradited to Colorado on Nov. 12, his 22nd birthday.

He faces attempted robbery and first-degree murder charges in connection with the 2004 shooting death of Orellana. Orellana's family could not be located for comment.

No charges have been brought against Halfacre's family, including his mother, Marilynn Jackson, who police say were instrumental in helping Halfacre elude police for four years, said Lucy. "We don't have the name of the family member who spirited him out of town," she said. "Beyond that, it's hard to prove they helped in his escape after the fact."