A person charged in the killings of a person and his pregnant spouse to maintain them from testifying in a San Diego drug trafficking case pleaded responsible to federal prices Monday.
Benjamin Madrigal-Birrueta is slated to be sentenced subsequent 12 months in reference to the slayings of Cesar Armando Murillo, 44, and Maira Sofia Hernandez, 33.
Prosecutors stated the victims every died of a number of gunshots to the top and their our bodies had been buried in a desert space close to Yakima, Washington.
In accordance with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Madrigal-Birrueta had a number one function in a drug trafficking enterprise that concerned utilizing stolen autos to smuggle medicine by way of San Diego-area ports of entry.
The investigation into the drug smuggling led brokers to Yakima, the place investigators interviewed Murillo and Hernandez in August of 2022.
Federal prosecutors stated each had been murdered “inside days of these interviews.” Following search efforts that exceeded a 12 months, the victims’ our bodies had been recovered within the fall of 2023.
Madrigal-Birrueta’s plea settlement states that he and different co-conspirators fatally shot Murillo on Aug. 28, 2022, at a ranch simply outdoors Yakima. The plea settlement states Madrigal-Birrueta maintains that Murillo additionally fired gunshots at him and his co-conspirators, although nobody was struck by that gunfire.
Lower than per week later, Madrigal-Birrueta persuaded a “visibly pregnant” Hernandez to come back to the ranch as a result of he stated Murillo “was ready for her on the ranch and wished to see her,” the plea settlement states.
Madrigal-Birrueta then drove Hernandez to the ranch, the place his co-conspirators shot and killed her, the doc states. The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated each victims’ our bodies had been buried close to the ranch at Madrigal-Birrueta’s course.
Together with admissions to his involvement in Murillo and Hernandez’s killings, the plea settlement states he prompted the dying of the couple’s unborn baby. The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated Hernandez was six months pregnant on the time of her dying.
Up to date at 5:19 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, 2025
