Slain Student's Accused Murderer Released

April 1, 2008 — -- A Mexican police official has been suspended after one suspect in the fatal shooting of a U.S. college student last week walked out of a Puerto Vallarta jail Friday and remains on the run.

David Parrish, 21, was shot in the chest while fending off a pair of assailants attempting to snatch his mother's purse, a deadly crime uncharacteristic of the popular tourist destination.

Mexican authorities consider 30-year-old Alfonso Ramirez, originally of Guadalajara, a dangerous man. He was one of two men arrested last week in connection with Parrish's murder and the attempted robbery of his mother, Janet Graaff, a business school instructor at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Parrish was killed around 4 p.m. during a spring break robbery attempt March 26, near the port in Puerto Vallarta, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City confirmed to ABC News.

"He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead shortly after," the spokeswoman said.

Ramirez escaped from jail Friday. "[Ramirez] appears to have changed clothes with a cell mate and was released by mistake," the U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said, adding that a public safety director had been suspended as prosecutors looked into how Ramirez had walked free.

The second suspect, identified as Daniel Vargas, also 30, remains in jail.

Prosecutor Guillermo Martin Diaz did not return a phone call from ABC News, but held a news conference Monday in which he announced the public safety director's suspension and said that public officials and prison employees are under investigation for possibly helping Ramirez escape from the jail, according to Siempre Libres, a Puerto Vallarta newspaper.

Officials at the U.S. Embassy were notified by police about the fatal attempted robbery "almost immediately" and have been in touch with Graaff and her family, according to the spokeswoman.

The embassy said it would help arrange the transportation of Parrish's body to the United States. A memorial service has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at a church in Boulder. The location of the student's body, as well as Janet Graaff's exactly location, were unclear.