Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Florida man extradited from Northern Ireland faces murder charges
PALM BEACH GARDENS — A Palm Beach Gardens man who allegedly fled to Europe to evade murder charges has been returned to the United States and arrested.
Jonah Horne, 28, had been fighting extradition from Northern Ireland on a second-degree murder charge for allegedly shooting a Boca Raton man in a botched drug deal in 2016.
Horne was booked into Palm Beach County jail Thursday night after losing his case to stay abroad with the European Court of Human Rights. His co-defendant, Matthew Lewis, pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge and is awaiting sentencing, according to court records.
A warrant was first issued for Horne’s arrest on June 7, 2024, after he allegedly shot and killed Jacob Walsh, 25, on North Military Trail in Boca Raton.
Surveillance video from the night of the shooting showed a white Jeep pull into a handicap parking space just passed midnight outside an apartment complex.
Two men can be seen getting out of the Jeep and walking off camera. Shortly after, Walsh is seen walking toward the Jeep before a man rushes him, gun in hand. They struggled for a few minutes before a flash cuts through the darkness, the 2016 arrest report stated.
Walsh ran off camera and the two men got back in the Jeep and drove off, according to the report.
Police later tracked cellphone activity in the area and reportedly traced the numbers to Horne and Lewis.
“so u got money for a whole,” Lewis allegedly texted Horne.
“yea I don’t need any front” Horne replied.
Officers concluded this exchange was indicative of a drug deal, the arrest report said.
According to a confidential source who spoke with the Boca Raton Police Department, Horne allegedly said, “Oh my god… I shot him… the kid… I shot him in the front seat of a car and then he ran.”
About 48 hours after the shooting, a white Jeep similar to the one seen on the surveillance footage was stolen from a restaurant parking lot and later recovered in Jupiter — the interior partially burned, the arrest report said.
Horne is in custody without bond.