A woman from Marietta was identified Friday as the eighth suspect in the ongoing and widening investigation into the death of a rideshare driver from Georgia.
Maria Katherine Chavez Encarnacion, 28, is wanted on a charge of murder in the slaying of Rossana Delgado, whose body was found April 20 in a mountain cabin in Gilmer County, nearly 100 miles from her Barrow County home.
Delgado, a 37-year-old married mother of two, was working as a rideshare driver April 16 when she was reported missing, her husband told Channel 2 Action News. He was able to track Delgado’s cellphone to a home in Decatur, where he said he found a mask with blood on it, the news station reported.
Credit: GBI
Credit: GBI
According the GBI, Delgado was last seen on security footage with another woman at Plaza Fiesta, a Latin shopping mall on Buford Highway in Brookhaven. Agents have identified Carolina Jazmin Rodriguez-Ramirez, 28, of Oklahoma, as the woman shopping with Delgado at Ross and the Mercado Fresco supermarket the day she disappeared.
Credit: GBI
Credit: GBI
Rodriguez-Ramirez and two other murder suspects — 35-year-old Juan Ayala-Rodriguez of Gainesville and 29-year-old Mario Alberto Barbosa-Juarez of Oklahoma City — are still at large. Three others were arrested May 15 in Mexico.
Megan Colone, 30, was taken into custody while traveling with her children. Oscar Manuel Garcia, 26, and Cobb County resident Juan Antonio Vega, 25, were apprehended together. All three were taken to Texas detention facilities and are awaiting extradition to Georgia to face murder charges, according to the GBI.
Colone’s children were safely returned to the U.S. during her arrest, the state agency said.
Credit: GBI
Credit: GBI
Another suspect, 28-year-old Calvin Harvard of Covington, was previously arrested on charges of tampering with evidence and theft by receiving stolen property. Additional charges are expected against Harvard, the GBI said.
Details in the case have been limited. Authorities have not released Delgado’s cause of death or said why they believe she traveled to the cabin in Cherry Log, a small community in the Chattahoochee National Forest. Her body was found by Gilmer sheriff’s deputies during a wellness check, although it was not clear what prompted the check.
The GBI was called in, according to the sheriff’s office, and only later was the victim identified as Delgado. Investigators have seized two vehicles belonging to two suspects, a white Ford F-150 and white Buick Regal, as well as Delgado’s red Ford Focus.
A motive for Delgado’s slaying has not been released, and the GBI has not said how all eight suspects were linked to the death.
Authorities believe the four remaining suspects, including the Marietta woman, are in Mexico. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to contact the GBI or call 911.
Tips can be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at the GBI’s tips website, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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