Convicted murderer captured after being mistakenly released from jail: US Marshals
A man convicted of strangling his girlfriend to death who was mistakenly released from a Georgia jail has been captured in Florida, the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed to ABC News on Friday.
Kathan Guzman, 22, was taken into custody in Ocoee on Friday, the U.S. Marshals Service said. He was arrested without incident at his mother's residence by the Florida Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force.
He has been booked into the Orlando County Jail on no bond on a fugitive from justice charge, online jail records show.
Guzman was convicted last year of murdering 19-year-old Dalia Grayson and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He was released from the Clayton County Jail erroneously, according to Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley, whose office prosecuted Guzman's case. The incident marked the second time an inmate has been mistakenly freed from the same jail since last year.
Guzman was awaiting transfer to the Georgia Department of Corrections, where he was slated to serve his sentence, when he was "released in error" on March 27, according to Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen.
His "inadvertent release" was not discovered for nearly two weeks, according to the sheriff, until the Clayton County District Attorney's Office contacted Allen directly about Guzman on Tuesday.
Mosley said the Georgia Office of Victim Services contacted her office on Tuesday after they were unable to locate Guzman in the Georgia penal system.
"My office checked the Clayton County Jail system, where it appeared that Guzman had been released," Mosley said in a press release on Thursday.
The Clayton County Sheriff's Office confirmed Guzman's "erroneous release" with her office, Mosley said.
"The cause of the release is under investigation, and disciplinary actions are pending," Allen said in a statement on Friday. "Once the investigation is complete, it may result in the termination of employees within the Clayton County Sheriff's Office."
Once authorities began searching for Guzman, they gathered information that determined he was outside of Georgia, Allen said.
"Once I contacted the U.S. Marshals and turned over all the information gathered, they began their work," Allen said. "I am proud to report that earlier today, April 11, 2025, the U.S. Marshals apprehended Guzman in Florida."
Mosley said Thursday her office was advised that "every available resource" was searching for Guzman, adding, "It is my sincere hope that Guzman is quickly re-apprehended and serves every day of his life sentence."
A Clayton County jury found Guzman guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault on Oct. 25, 2024. A trial judge sentenced him to life in prison the same day.
Prosecutors said Guzman strangled Grayson to death early in the morning on Aug. 7, 2022, following an hours-long argument. Guzman testified that Grayson attacked him with a knife and that he placed her in a "sleeper hold" for 10 seconds without intending to kill her, the district attorney's office said. However, the medical examiner testified that there would have needed to be continuous pressure on her neck for significantly longer than 10 seconds for her to die, according to the district attorney's office.
Mosley said that upon learning about Guzman's release, her office contacted the victim's mother.
"How does this happen? How? I'm not getting a clear answer," Grayson's mother, Christina Grayson, told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB.
Amid the search, she said she was concerned Guzman could be headed to Florida, where she lives.
"I can't walk around without my concealed weapon," Christina Grayson told WSB. "I mean, I have to make sure I have that and my phone."
This marks the second time since last year that the Clayton County Jail has mistakenly released an inmate.
In January 2024, murder suspect Zion River Shaka was transferred from the Fulton County Jail and sent to the custody of the Clayton County Sheriff's Office for a scheduled hearing, with instructions to return to the Fulton County Jail afterward. However, he was mistakenly released after the hearing.
Jail records show he was booked back in the Fulton County Jail in June 2024.
