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Federal authorities announced on Wednesday, Nov. 2, that gang members Elmer Zelaya Martinez, 31, Ronald Herrera Contreras, 24, Henry Zelaya Martinez, 28, Pablo Velasco Barrera, 24, and Duglas Ramirez Ferrera, 26, all from El Salvador, have received multiple life sentences.
Specifically, each was sentenced to six terms of life in prison, and two terms of 120 months behind bars, all of which will run concurrently.
Prosecutors say that the five, along with other gang members, first targeted a 17-year-old from Falls Church who was believed to be a member of the rival 18th Street gang.
On Aug. 28, 2016, the gang lured the teen - only identified by prosecutors as “E.E.E.M.” to Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in Fairfax County under the false pretense that there was going to be a gang meeting there.
Instead, in a wooded area of the park, gang members restrained, attacked, and killed the teen, stabbing and chopping him more than 100 times with knives, a machete, and a pickaxe.
Afterward, the gang broke one of E.E.E.M.’s legs so that his body would fit into the pre-dug hole that was nearby.
Court documents also say that the group then targeted 14-year-old Alexandria resident “S.A.A.T.” who was believed - falsely - to be a police informant.
On Sept. 26, 2016, prosecutors said that the gang told S.A.A.T. that there was going to be a gang meeting later that night and encouraged him to attend. Not long thereafter, S.A.A.T. went outside in his pajamas, telling his mother he was just taking out the trash.
Eventually, several gang members picked up S.A.A.T. and drove him to the same park where they had killed E.E.E.M. The 14-year-old met the same fate, which was also filmed so that the group could “prove to gang leaders in the United States and in El Salvador that they deserved to be promoted in rank.
Once S.A.A.T. was dead, the gang broke his legs and tied him up with his own pajama pants so that he would fit into a shallow grave that was dug for him that night.
“Words alone are incapable of describing the tragedy and senselessness that mark this case. Mere proximity to MS-13 and its twisted code cost two unassuming teenage boys their lives. In the wake of their appallingly violent murders lie wrecked families and fear-stricken communities,” US Attorney Jessica Aber stated.
To date, a total of 17 defendants have been charged in this case, five of whom went to trial and were convicted of all charges. Nine defendants pleaded guilty prior to trial. See the table below for additional information on the defendants who were convicted at trial.
“Brutality is the hallmark of MS-13. The defendants kidnapped and murdered two innocent teenagers, shattering their dreams and stoking fear in the communities we live and work in," Wayne Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's Criminal and Cyber Division stated.
“This joint investigation demonstrates the FBI and our law enforcement partners' refusal to tolerate violent gang members who terrorize our neighborhoods and ruthlessly murder rival gang members and innocent civilians.”
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