New pictures of Ryan Wedding show changes in fugitive’s appearance

U.S. authorities have released two new photos of Canadian fugitive Ryan Wedding, as the FBI intensifies its search for the alleged drug kingpin. 

One image, which the FBI said it had “newly obtained,” shows Wedding, 44, shirtless in bed, revealing a large tattoo of a lion on his chest. The picture is believed to have been taken in Mexico this past summer, the agency’s Los Angeles field office said in a social media post Monday evening. 

Separately, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico published Monday what appeared to be an older photo of the Thunder Bay, Ont.-born fugitive in a green T-shirt, with a shaved head. Officials did not immediately provide details as to when and where the driver’s licence or passport-style photo had been taken. 

Wedding, who competed for Canada as a snowboarder at the 2002 Olympic Games in Utah, was added this year to the FBI’s list of 10 most-wanted fugitives. Last month, the U.S. increased the reward offered for information leading to his arrest to $15 US million, up from the previous $10 million US. 

He’s accused of running a murderous criminal empire that routinely ships tonnes of cocaine and fentanyl, plus methamphetamine and heroin, from Mexico and South America, to L.A., and then onto U.S. and Canadian destinations. 

FBI director Kash Patel recently described Wedding as “the modern-day iteration” of notorious drug lords Pablo Escobar and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

The agency has said Wedding is hiding in Mexico, under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel, once led by Guzman. 

The two newly-released photos show strikingly different looks for Wedding, with a shaved, balding head in the older image and a full head of hair earlier this year. 

The picture taken in bed appears to be the first image released by authorities that was either snapped by Wedding himself or someone intimately close to him. The FBI had previously posted two photos taken in 2024 which seemed to have been taken from a distance, without his knowledge. 

In each instance, the FBI did not disclose where the pictures were taken, or how they were obtained. CBC’s visual investigations unit determined one 2024 image of Wedding, wearing a blue call cap and white t-shirt, was taken in Mexico City’s Santa Fe business district. 

Last month, Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s L.A. field office told reporters that Wedding “might change his hair colour, his appearance, and do anything to avoid capture.” The agency previously suggested Wedding may even have undergone plastic surgery. 

The former athlete stands six feet, three inches tall and is thought to weigh between 230 and 250 pounds. 

Investigators have said he’s used the aliases James Conrad King and Jesse King, plus a list of pseudonyms, including Public Enemy, Giant, Grande, Mexi and “El Jefe” (the boss).

“Someone like Ryan Wedding is going to stick out in Mexico,” Davis said, “and that is why we’re soliciting the public’s help to try and identify and locate him, [and] arrest him.”

In a video released online Monday, the U.S. embassy in Mexico urged the public to reach out with any tips regarding Wedding’s whereabouts. 

“If you have seen him or have any information about him, your call is crucial,” the embassy said in a social media post in Spanish. 

Wedding is alleged to have ordered dozens of murders around the world, including the shooting deaths of an innocent Indian couple in Caledon, Ont., mistakenly targeted in Nov. 2023 over a stolen cocaine shipment. 

Who is Ryan Wedding?

Last month, Wedding and multiple associates were charged in connection with the January slaying of Montreal-born drug-trafficker-turned FBI witness, Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia in Medellin, Colombia. 

Court documents reviewed by CBC News say Wedding considered Acebedo-Garcia a “rat,” and placed a $5-million US bounty on his head. A prominent Toronto-area lawyer linked to Wedding and a crime blogger are both also charged with helping Wedding plot the assassination. 

As part of the investigation, the FBI seized an ultra-rare Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR Roadster in Miami last month, estimated to be worth $13 million US. CBC reported the car — thought to be one of only six ever built — had been purchased by a Toronto jeweller accused of acting as one of Wedding’s chief money launderers. 

CBC News senior reporter Thomas Daigle has extensively covered the search for Ryan Wedding. He can be reached by email at thomas.daigle@cbc.ca.