ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal indictment was unsealed today charging 11 members and associates of MS-13 in connection with the 2016 murders of two juveniles in Fairfax County.
According to allegations in the indictment, in August 2016, Elmer Zelaya Martinez, Erick Palacios Ruiz, Ronald Herrera Contreras, and Josue Vigil Mejia conspired together and with others to lure a 17 year-old male, who they suspected was a member of a rival gang, to a park in Fairfax County in order to attack and kill him. After killing him and to conceal evidence linking them to the juvenile’s disappearance and murder, these four defendants and their co-conspirators buried the juvenile’s remains.
The indictment further alleges that in September 2016, Elmer Zelaya Martinez, Erick Palacios Ruiz, Ronald Herrera Contreras, Henry Zelaya Martinez, Oscar Contreras Aguilar, Yonathan Melgar Martinez, Pablo Miguel Barrera Velasco, Anderson Villatoro, Francisco Avila Avalos, and Fredys Baires Abarca conspired together and with others to lure a 14 year-old male to the same park in Fairfax County where he was attacked and killed because he was thought to be cooperating with law enforcement. This juvenile’s remains were also buried.
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
