Federal agent testifies that drug cartels played no role in triple murder

All evidence pointed to drug cartel involvement when Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Adam Gallegos joined the case.

The three bodies of Youngstown men who emigrated from Honduras – 25-year-old Inmer Reyes, 31-year-old Victor Varela-Rodriguez and 35-year-old Domingo Castillo-Reyes – were found with their hands on March 10, 2023. strapped behind their backs, gagged, MS-13 written on their chests and shot in the head “execution style,” Gallegos testified Thursday.

A fourth man, Oscar Meija-Gomez, barely survived the shooting with a bullet to the head. A fifth person targeted by the kidnappers also survived.

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But as local and federal investigators gathered more information, his assessment changed. He concluded that there was no cartel involvement.

Elias Gudino, a 59-year-old Copley man, is on trial on charges that he carried out the fatal kidnapping. He and his attorneys Noah Munyer and John Greven claim that a drug cartel he once worked for forced him to do so or his family would die.

“There was no evidence of associations with any form of transnational crime,” Gallego said of the five victims.

According to the defense, there is more to the investigation

On cross-examination, Munyer argued there may be more to the investigation than what Gallegos can say in court, which could link drug cartels to the triple homicide that could have claimed two additional lives.

“When did the investigation (into the triple homicide) end,” Munyer asked Gallegos.

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“Per Department of Homeland Security policy, I cannot answer that question,” Gallegos responded.

Munyer then asked Gallegos if he was investigating possible cartel involvement.

“I cannot make public my full investigation, but I could not find any cartel involvement as a motive for these proceedings,” Gallegos said.

Three days after the triple homicide, Gallegos offered to help the fifth victim, Ariel Mendez-Trochez, with his immigration status, which he did and continues to do, Munyer said. Munyer questioned whether international crime organizations could still be investigated as part of the deadly kidnapping, since the assistance was dependent on the involvement of a cartel.

“Several people aren’t murdered because they’re dating someone else’s ex,” Munyer said, reading from an investigative report written about three days after the triple murder. “This happens when you owe someone a lot of money.”

The fifth victim takes the stand

Ariel Mendez-Trochez was lured to a Youngstown house he once called home. He received messages and calls from his cousin Reyes, urging him to come over and discuss a new job in construction.

But when Mendez-Trochez arrived at the house, he was not allowed inside. He saw Meija-Gomez sitting on a bed in the dark, but he assumed he was drinking with his roommates and cousin, Mendez-Trochez testified.

After leaving the house, he continued to receive messages from Reyes. The next morning he woke up to some disturbing messages.

His cousin told him he would have been killed if he had entered the house.

“He said he had to tell his family he loved them. He told me to leave and live a good life,” Mendez-Trochez recalled Thursday.

Reyes’ last message was a threat, he said.

“If you don’t leave before Celia gets back from work, we’ll come get you,” he reminded.

Believing the threat, he left his girlfriend, fled to a house he was helping to renovate and destroyed one of his phones before going to Youngstown police.

During the subsequent investigation, he met with Gallegos, who told him he could help him with his immigration status in exchange for truthful testimony and statements, both Gallegos and Mendez-Trochez testified.

For his assistance, Mendez-Trochez was placed in protective custody and the action stayed, granting him legal immigration status in the United States, Gallegos explained. He is no longer in protective custody but remains in deferred action.

Elias Gudino destroyed the phone the day after the murders

Samir Abdelquader has known Gudino for years. He owned a tire shop down the street from Gudino’s Mexican restaurant, and the two often worked for each other.

But when Gudino entered his store on March 10, he saw his acquaintance take a hammer, smash his cell phone and throw it in the trash.

Later that day, the two went out to dinner and Abdelquader made note of the three bodies found in Akron and Copley Township, he recalled.

“He said, ‘My daughter said there were four of them,’” Abdelquader recalled. “I looked at the news again and said it was three. He didn’t say anything after that.”

After news of Gudino’s arrest broke, Abdelquader picked up the broken cell phone and SIM card, which were still intact, and called an Akron Police Department detective.

“I’ve known (the detective) since I was a kid,” he said. “I knew he would tell me what was the right thing to do.”

Bryce Buyakie covers courts and public safety for the Beacon Journal. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @bryce_buyakie.