Arizona Soldier Back from Ukraine to Face Double Homicide Charges

A former soldier turned foreign fighter has been extradited from Ukraine to face federal charges for a double homicide committed in Florida in 2018.

Craig Austin Lang, 34, of Surprise, Arizona, was extradited to the United States to stand trial for six federal offenses, including conspiracy to commit robbery and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. If convicted on all counts, Lang faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

The charges stem from the April 10, 2018, double homicide of a Brooksville couple, S.L., Jr. and D.L., who were found dead in Estero, Florida, from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body. The couple had traveled to Estero from Brooksville to purchase firearms, but were instead murdered during an armed robbery. The suspects, Lang and his co-defendant Alex Jared Zwiefelhofer, 27, of Bloomer, Wisconsin, were identified through an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Zwiefelhofer was convicted as charged at trial on March 8, 2024, and is scheduled for sentencing on August 6, 2024. Lang’s extradition from Ukraine occurred after the European Court of Human Rights recently rejected his claim challenging extradition under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The FBI escorted Lang from Ukraine to the United States, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the FBI Tampa Field Office Fort Myers Resident Agency provided significant assistance in securing the arrest, extradition, and removal of Lang to the United States.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty. This case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jesus M. Casas and Michael V. Leeman.

The United States also thanks Ukrainian authorities for their valuable assistance in securing Lang’s extradition. Lang is being held without bail and is expected to appear in court soon.

Lang is also charged with conspiring to kill, kidnap, or maim persons in a foreign country and a violation of the Neutrality Act. Further investigation revealed that the couple had traveled to Estero from Brooksville to complete the purchase of several firearms from an individual who had listed them for sale on a website known as Armslist. The suspects allegedly planned to use the money to fund their travel to Venezuela to fight against the government.

The couple was murdered during the armed robbery of the $3,000 they had intended to use to purchase the firearms. The investigation found that Lang and Zwiefelhofer met in Florida in April 2018, where they allegedly planned to take a boat to Venezuela, but their plan fell through.

Both Lang and Zwiefelhofer were formerly in the U.S. military before traveling overseas to Ukraine to engage in fighting, where they met. They then traveled to Kenya to fight in South Sudan before they were arrested and deported back to the United States. After being in the United States for a short time, both Lang and Zwiefelhofer planned to travel to Venezuela to fight alongside others.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.