LEESBURG — A 51-year-old man wanted for first-degree murder in a Washington state cold case dating to 1993 was captured 3,000 miles away Thursday in Lake County.

James Edward Mitchell was arrested by an eight-member U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force team, including one Lake deputy, after officials from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department in Washington notified Leesburg police of the suspect's possible whereabouts, Lake sheriff's Sgt. Jim Vachon said.

Mitchell was found at the Tires Plus shop on U.S. Highway 27-441, getting his car washed, Vachon said.

"They approached him while he was in his car," Vachon said. "They didn't report him resisting at all. He went quietly."

Jon Graver, Leesburg police detective who worked on the case, said a Pierce County sheriff's detective notified his agency about three weeks ago that "they had some suspect information" on Mitchell. Graver said the Washington state detective was able to find Mitchell by tracking the use of his EBT card.

Vachon said they think Mitchell arrived in the area in January of this year and was staying with a girlfriend or a relative in Leesburg. He said they don't think Mitchell had a job.

Mitchell's murder case dates to February 1993. He is accused of stabbing former neighbor Linda Robinson 10 times in the back, according to charging papers. Robinson was found dead in her Spanaway, Wash., apartment facedown and covered in blood.

Robinson was baby-sitting a 7-year-old girl and a 6-month-old baby who were sleeping in another room, according to spokesman Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. The children woke up to the sound of a smoke alarm set off by a pot on the stove, found Robinson on the kitchen floor and ran to a neighbor who called police, according to Troyer. Robinson died of stab wounds that pierced her lungs, according to charging papers.

No suspects were determined, and the investigation was suspended pending further leads.

The case was reopened last year after DNA samples of blood found on the victim's bathroom floor, a vanity in the bedroom and other locations in the apartment matched Mitchell's.

Mitchell was previously convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance in Washington, and he arrested in aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery in Florida, according to charging papers.

He is being held at the Lake County Jail pending transfer back to Washington.

jomaye@tribune.com