ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Nearly nine years ago outside of Santa Ana, California, in the city of Orange, the bodies of three men were found in a burning SUV. All three had been shot to death. Six days later, the body of a fourth man was also found in a car in the nearby city of Fontana.
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Prosecutors in California say a Phoenix man, Raul Gastellum Flores, 33, killed all of them as part of a failed attempt to take over an illegal drug business, run by the Sinaloa Cartel. Flores was one of several people believed to be involved in the crime, orchestrated by a man named Rosario Adan Roman-Lopez.
On Monday, a California jury found Flores guilty of four felony counts of first-degree murder, four special circumstances of murder during the commission of a robbery, and four special circumstances of multiple murders.
In a news release announcing Flores's conviction, prosecutors with the District Attorney’s Office of Orange County described the crimes in gruesome detail.
On Nov 9, 2015, the burning SUV was found abandoned in the middle of a residential neighborhood on Oakman Street right after 2 p.m. People in the neighborhood made the horrific discovery. They tried to put the fire out using a garden hose as they waited for fire crews to arrive.
After the firefighters extinguished the blaze, the bodies were found. One man was found in the front passenger seat and the other two in the back seat. Each had been shot several times.
The men were identified as Fernando Meza, Edgar Berrelleza and Antonio Medina.
"Fernando Meza had his hands bound and he had also been stabbed several times. Edgar Berrelleza had been shot in the head and the back and Antonio Medina had been shot in the head," prosecutors said.
The fourth man, Joel Berrelleza, who was Edgar Berrelleza's brother, was kidnapped and shot to death, with the vehicle being abandoned in Fontana.
According to prosecutors, Ramon-Lopez orchestrated the murders in retaliation for the Berrelleza brother's decision to cut him out of the business. He recruited Flores and two others to carry out the murders. Flores traveled from Phoenix, heavily armed with several handguns and AK-47s, to carry out the crimes. Prosecutors said he was to "steal tens of thousands of dollars from the Berrelleza brothers, and to murder them if they refused to pay."
Flores and his accomplices found the victims at an apartment in Orange. The men were kidnapped and forced into an SUV, where they were eventually killed.
Flores continued to drive the vehicle with the victims inside while the other accomplices got out. He then set the vehicle on fire and fled the scene with the others.
Surveillance video captured a man, now identified as Flores, jumping out of the SUV and getting into a waiting car.
The burning SUV was found by those in the neighborhood a short time later.
Prosecutors said Flores, and the others, then focused their attention on the second Berrelleza brother, who had been kidnapped and was being held in an apartment.
Flores, Roman-Lopez and the other accomplices stole safes, money, and over $60,000 worth of heroin from the apartment.
The men then forced Joel Berrelleza into his Pontiac and shot him. They also used a cell phone to record Berrelleza as he was dying. The car was abandoned in Fontana and found nearly a week later.
According to prosecutors, the two other defendants charged in the case remain wanted on warrants, while Roman-Lopez is believed to have been murdered in Mexico.
Flores is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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