--- title: 'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch Found in Mexico, Arrested description: He was arrested in the resort of Puerto Vallarta along with his mother after going missing two weeks ago canonical: https://time.com/4162865/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-found-mexico-arrested/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-29T04:21:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:40:19.224Z article:section: U.S. og:title: 'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch Arrested in Mexico og:description: He went missing earlier this month. og:url: https://time.com/4162865/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-found-mexico-arrested/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aee5a896b359ef0/69887709524fc07ec7df6162/rtx1zbd1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ethan Couch is shown in this handout photo provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department in Fort Worth og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch Arrested in Mexico twitter:description: He went missing earlier this month. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aee5a896b359ef0/69887709524fc07ec7df6162/rtx1zbd1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch Has Been Found in Mexico and Taken Into Custody by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 29, 2015 4:21 AM CUT  Ethan Couch, 18, is shown in this handout photo provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department in Fort Worth on Dec. 17, 2015 Ethan Couch, 18, is shown in this handout photo provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department in Fort Worth on Dec. 17, 2015Tarrant County Sheriff's Department / Reuters by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 29, 2015 4:21 AM CUT Texas youngster Ethan Couch, better known as the “affluenza teen,” has been [arrested](http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/28/us/mexico-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-detained/ "undefined") near the Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta along with his mother after going missing two weeks ago. He will now likely be transferred to the custody of U.S. Marshals by Mexican authorities, CNN reported. Couch, [sentenced to probation](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/12/the-affluenza-defense-judge-rules-rich-kids-rich-kid-ness-makes-him-not-liable-for-deadly-drunk-driving-accident/ "undefined") in 2013 for killing four people while driving drunk, made national headlines when his lawyer successfully argued — using the term _affluenza_ — that the then 16-year-old shouldn’t be jailed because his privileged upbringing made him unaware of the consequences of his actions. His mother Tonya was [listed as a missing person](http://time.com/4158024/affluenza-teen-missing-drunk-driving/ "undefined") by Texas authorities last week under suspicion of having helped him flee the country. \[[_CNN_](http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/28/us/mexico-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-detained/ "undefined")\] Read Next: [_Drunk Driving Teen Avoids Jail Because of the Parenting He Received_](http://healthland.time.com/2013/12/13/drunk-driving-teen-avoids-jail-because-of-the-parenting-he-received/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4162865/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-found-mexico-arrested/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4162865/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-found-mexico-arrested/"},"headline":"'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch Has Been Found in Mexico and Taken Into Custody","datePublished":"2015-12-29T04:21:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:40:19.224Z","description":"He went missing earlier this month","url":"https://time.com/4162865/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-found-mexico-arrested/","keywords":["Crime","arrested","Mexico","Missing","Mother"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aee5a896b359ef0/69887709524fc07ec7df6162/rtx1zbd1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aee5a896b359ef0/69887709524fc07ec7df6162/rtx1zbd1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ethan Couch is shown in this handout photo provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department in Fort Worth","caption":"Ethan Couch is shown in this handout photo provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department in Fort Worth","creditText":"Tarrant County Sheriff's Department / Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4162865/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-found-mexico-arrested/","name":"'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch Has Been Found in Mexico and Taken Into Custody"}}]}] ```