DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 10:34 p.m. February 17, 2009
Men sought in Cobb for murders in S.C.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Law enforcement officers in two states are looking for two men, believed to be in Cobb County, who were paid to kill a South Carolina couple after a bad drug deal.
Deputies from Spartanburg, S.C., were in Cobb Tuesday distributing fliers to businesses, and asking for help finding Jose Delangel Gomez, 25, of Marietta. They are also looking for Luis Perez, 29, of Smyrna.
Cobb County Sheriff's Office
Jesse David Ventura, 26, of Marietta, was arrested last week on a fugitive warrant. Two other suspects are being sought.
Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office
Police are looking for Jose Delangel Gomez, 25, of Marietta.
Police say Gomez and Perez were part of a six-man crew from Georgia hired to kill Hugo Del-Carmen Lugo-Hernandez and Teresa DeJesus Avilla-Martinez. The couple died Jan. 24 over money owed a drug operation run by two Spartanburg men, said Maj. Dan Johnson of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.
The shooting was captured on gasoline station surveillance cameras.
“We had two or three investigators come down today, working with the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, giving information, a copy of the warrant and begging for their assistance in rounding up Jose Gomez,” Johnson said.
Six of the eight people suspected in the shooting, including the two accused of hiring the killers, are in custody. Jesse David Ventura, 26, of Marietta, was arrested last week on a fugitive warrant. He is in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
Last month, South Carolina authorities arrested Edgar Pineda-Aviles, 25; Yesenia Cortez-Ramirez, 37 and Eli Celis-Pineda, 28, all of Bartow County. Two others in custody are Juan Carlos Vazquez-Estrada, 32, and Jose Reyes-Arevalos, 37, of the Spartanburg area.
The murder charges were brought after the two men from the Spartanburg area were arrested on drug charges, Johnson said.
Vazquez-Estrada and Reyes-Arevalos “were drug dealers and one of the victims apparently owed them some money,” Johnson said. “Based on the information we developed, he hired them to come up here.”
Johnson said the six men from Georgia were paid to recover money or the marijuana from the victims. Originally, the crew would be paid with half of what they recovered. Instead, they were given a Chevrolet Avalanche.
Gomez was charged with a 2004 murder in Cobb County but the charges were dismissed, said Johnson. It could not be confirmed if Gomez had a record in Georgia.
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