A person accused of working a drug trafficking operation was charged by federal prosecutors Tuesday within the killing of two witnesses, allegedly to maintain them from testifying in opposition to him.
Particular brokers with Homeland Safety Investigations have been following a lead once they traveled to Yakima, Wash., in August 2022 to interview Cesar Armando Murillo, 44, and Maira Sofia Hernandez, 33, who was six months pregnant, in line with court docket filings.
Days after they have been interviewed, federal prosecutors stated, the 2 have been murdered and buried within the desert.
Each appeared to have been killed with a number of gunshot wounds to the top, in line with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace.
The person behind the killings was 22-year-old Benjamin Madrigal-Birrueta, prosecutors stated in a federal indictment that was unsealed Tuesday. Federal investigators allege Madrigal-Birrueta was the chief of a felony enterprise that used stolen late-model vehicles to smuggle medicine throughout the U.S.-Mexico border within the San Diego space.
In keeping with the indictment, Murillo and Hernandez had allegedly wired cash to folks linked with the drug trafficking ring, and registered autos that have been used within the operation.
Their our bodies weren’t discovered for greater than a yr, till Sept. 13, 2023, officers stated. The intensive search concerned geophysicists, ground-penetrating radar, laser imaging, chemical testing of soil, and cadaver canines.
“The homicide of witnesses is an affront to our rule of legislation however HSI, together with our legislation enforcement companions, have the sources to uncover these horrible crimes,” Particular Agent in Cost Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Safety Investigations within the Pacific Northwest, stated in a press release.
Federal investigators started wanting into the operation round August 2021, after a number of autos have been noticed and seized in San Diego-area ports of entry, in line with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace.
Officers seized methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl throughout their investigation, officers stated.
The search additionally resulted within the seizure of a number of firearms, together with a machine gun and physique armor.
Madrigal-Birrueta is believed to have run the operation from Yakima, officers stated.
He’s dealing with a number of prices in federal court docket, together with two counts of homicide, conspiracy to import managed substances, conspiracy to commit witness tampering, inflicting loss of life of a kid in utero, and a number of prices of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
The Occasions was unable to achieve out to an lawyer for the accused; no authorized consultant is but listed.
