Spanish police, FBI apprehend Evansville man accused in murder plot

EVANSVILLE — Spanish authorities arrested Samuel Huggler, the Evansville man accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot in 2021 that led to the killing of his sister, after the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office refiled once-dismissed charges against Huggler on Thursday.

The Evansville Police Department disclosed Huggler's arrest in a news release Saturday afternoon. Months earlier, before the sentencing of Huggler's co-defendant, 19-year-old Daniel Lawrence Alvey, court records indicated Huggler had fled the midwest to take up refuge in Andorra, a European principality that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.

Alvey received a 45-year prison sentence in May after he accepted a plea deal and admitted he killed 18-year-old Olivia Huggler, Samuel Huggler's sister, and seriously wounded two other people during what police called a targeted shooting in December 2021.

Alvey reportedly claimed Huggler, 27, offered him $5,000 to kill at least one member of the Huggler family.

“The money was to be paid to Alvey after the murder was done,” Evansville police detectives wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. “Alvey also states that he got the firearms and ammunition from Samuel while he was at his house several weeks ago.”

Spanish police arrested Huggler, 27, as he traveled through Valencia, Spain, this week after a Vanderburgh County judge issued a warrant for Huggler's arrest on charges of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, EPD spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Gray said.

Though it is publicly unknown where Huggler had resided in Andorra, the tiny principality's capital, Andorra la Vella, sits about a 5-hour drive northeast of Valencia, a city with a population of nearly 800,000 positioned on Spain's southeastern coast.

Photographs released by the EPD Saturday showed a Spanish National Police officer and FBI personnel detaining a handcuffed Huggler, who was wearing dark, aviator-style sunglasses, tight-fitting jeans and a jacket.

The Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office dismissed its first case against Huggler in 2022, citing Alvey's refusal to testify against him. The EPD said Huggler fled the country just weeks after he no longer faced charges in connection with the triple shooting.

"Following the dismissal of Huggler's case, a collaborative investigation ensued, involving the Evansville Police Department, the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office, FBI Indianapolis and (the) FBI Madrid Legal Attache Office, Police Corps. of Andorra and the Spanish National Police, aimed at locating and monitoring Huggler," Gray wrote in a news release Saturday.

U.S. law enforcement informed the Spanish National Police of Huggler's new arrest warrant, issued Thursday, resulting in his apprehension in Valencia.

"Huggler is currently in custody, pending the processing of extradition proceedings," Gray said.

As of Saturday afternoon, online Vanderburgh County court records did not cite documents pertaining to Huggler's arrest in Spain.

But court and police records stemming from the case against Alvey shed light on the December 2021 shooting that has, years later, led to Huggler's arrest.

The shootings occurred around 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 14, 2021, at a home in the 800 block of Kirkwood Drive in Evansville. One of the victims was carrying groceries inside from the garage when a man holding a handgun and wearing a camouflage ski mask, later identified as Alvey, approached them.

“Eventually, (the victim) reported that the male began firing,” Alvey's arrest affidavit states.

Alvey at first fired shots into the home from inside a garage, according to a witness. He shot two of the three victims in the head. Olivia Huggler succumbed to her injuries one day after the shooting.

U.S. Marshals apprehended Alvey, who a witness present at the scene of the crime recognized, in Pike County, Indiana.

At the time of Alvey's arrest, investigators had already identified Huggler as a man they wanted to “speak with.” While Alvey told detectives Huggler had hired him to carry out the shooting, he refused to testify against him in 2022, resulting in a first slate of charges against Huggler being dismissed.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Samuel Huggler arrested in Spain for 2021 Evansville murder for hire