A federal prisoner being held on marijuana smuggling charges in New Mexico has now been extradited to Gwinnett to face charges in the 2008 death of a neighbor.
Gerson Salmeron-Diaz, 26, was arrested on Dec. 11, when he and five other suspects were charged with transporting nearly 400 lbs. of marijuana in Arizona. He was booked into the Gwinnett County jail Thursday to face charges he killed Margaret Binkele.
Binkele’s death had been a cold case for nearly six years. She was discovered dead in her home in Sugar Hill. An autopsy revealed that Binkele had been beaten, stabbed and suffered severe head trauma. A sexual assault kit was also completed during the autopsy, which returned an unknown DNA profile.
In March, detectives received a DNA match to the profile from Binkele’s case — Salmeron-Diaz.
Salmeron-Diaz, who was later determined to be Binkele’s neighbor at the time of her death, had been deported to El Salvador following an unrelated arrest between July, 2008 and March 2014. When he returned to the United States, he was arrested for drug trafficking. His DNA was entered into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) and the match to the cold case was found.
Gwinnett detectives traveled to New Mexico and confirmed the match. They obtained a warrant for murder in May.
Salmeron-Diaz is being held without bond.
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