SAN FRANCISCO -- Prosecutors in the San Francisco district attorney's office are anxiously awaiting the extradition of one of San Francisco's ten most wanted fugitives after the FBI arrested him Thursday morning in Mexico.

Tari Ramirez, 33, has been sought for more than five years on a district attorney's arrest warrant in connection with several charges including the murder of his ex-girlfriend Claire Joyce Tempongko and a felony parole violation.

"We look forward to the day this defendant is brought back to San Francisco so we can prosecute him to the fullest and finally achieve justice for the Tempongko family," District Attorney Kamala Harris said.

The U.S. attorney general's office had assisted police by searching for Ramirez on charges of unlawful flight avoid prosecution. This morning, according to the FBI, that search came to an end.

The FBI recently received leads indicating Ramirez may have been living near Cancun under an assumed name. Investigators checked the lead out and made an arrest Thursday morning.

"We had information from an anonymous source that Ramirez was in the Cancun area," FBI Special Agent Ryan Butler said. "He was staying with a relative and working in a resort in the area."

Following Tempongko's murder, San Francisco police posted a $35,000 reward for information leading to Ramirez's capture.

Authorities expect to extradite Ramirez to the U.S., but the process might take weeks or even months, according to the FBI. Harris said there are always a series of steps in an extradition case. Mostly, U.S. officials must work with the Mexican government to iron out any challenges before a prisoner can be transported.

Once Ramirez reaches San Francisco, the district attorney's office will proceed with an arraignment on murder charges, Harris said.

Tempongko, a clerical worker at a jewelry store, was stabbed several times in front of her 5-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son in her Richmond District basement apartment on Oct. 22, 2000.

Police had arrested Ramirez three times in 1999 for assaulting Tempongko, and Ramirez had spent four months in jail for one of the arrests. In the month leading up to her murder, police prepared two separate reports alleging Ramirez had battered Tempongko.

In one of the cases, Ramirez allegedly tried to choke her by sticking his fingers down her throat. Police arrived to find Tempongko on the bed with her children, bleeding heavily from the mouth and crying uncontrollably. Another incident a few days later prompted another police visit, but police never arrested Ramirez in either incident.

He became the main suspect in Tempongko's murder, but authorities were unable to find him. Police feared Ramirez, a Mexican citizen, had fled the country.

A year after her murder, the victim's mother Clara Tempongko along with the victim's two surviving children sued the city of San Francisco, alleging that the police failed to transmit their reports to the city's adult probation department, district attorney and superior court as required by various regulations and procedures.

In 2004, the city of San Francisco settled the lawsuit by awarding $500,000 to Claire's two children.

"This unfortunate tragedy has led to the system critically examining itself, and as a result, we have made progress in the way these cases are treated," Harris said. "Domestic violence is a horrible crime. It impacts women, families and the children of those families, and we will always prosecute it to the fullest."

The procedural mistake enflamed domestic violence organizations across the city and the country and led to several changes in the way San Francisco police deal with domestic battery cases.

Marily Mondejar, President of Filipinas Against Violence, said her organization has constantly applied pressure on police to find Tempongko's killer. She also emphasized that her death was not in vain.

"The system really failed her," Mondejar said. "She was murdered in front of her children and the murderer escaped... but her death really helped San Francisco improve their responses to domestic violence."