A teenager’s body was found wrapped in a comforter and dumped along a Connecticut highway – and now two of his cousins have been charged in connection to his murder.
Edgar Josué Chiche Martínez, 18, was found dead at the side of 80 Pope Park Highway in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday morning, Hartford Police Department said.
The medical examiner’s office said the teen died from two gunshot wounds and estimated his body had been dumped along the highway around 24 hours before it was found.
Hartford Police told The Independent that two of the victim’s cousins – a 17-year-old who has not been named because of his age, and Sender Soto-Veliz, 21 – had been arrested.
The 17-year-old was charged with murder and tampering with evidence, while Soto-Veliz was charged with hindering prosecution in the second degree and tampering with evidence.
Police said the two suspects and the victim all lived together at an apartment near Keney Park.
Martínez – who had only graduated from college in spring and was days away from turning 19 – was allegedly shot dead inside the apartment on Thursday.
The victim’s family said they grew concerned for him when he failed to show up to work on Thursday and Friday.
When his body was found on Saturday, police tracked down one of the suspect’s vehicles and took the pair into custody that night, police said.
Investigators then allegedly found evidence of the killing inside the apartment.
Martínez’s family told NBC Connecticut that they believe his death may have been connected to money.
Nimsa Martínez, the victim’s sister, told the outlet: “He was the person who always took care of me, despite him not being OK. I’m going to remember him as the most beautiful person I could’ve ever known”.
“What we do want is for justice to be done,” his aunt Verónica Imelda Martínez Mayen said, adding of her nephew: “He was playful. A prankster. He stayed away from parties. [He was] very friendly.”
The family is now arranging for Martínez’s body to be returned to Guatemala where his parents live, NBC reported.
Meanwhile, the 17-year-old suspect is now awaiting transfer to an adult court. Soto-Veliz is being held on $500,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.
