Three Texas juveniles were indicted on capital murder charges in a September 19 incident in which authorities say a Waco man was shot and killed after being lured through a fake social media account to South Waco.
15-year-old Kyle Flores, 16-year-old Jeremiah Marquez, and 16-year-old Edgar Castillo.were named in sealed indictments May 26 in the robbery and shooting death of 22-year-old Israel Martinez, an insulation company worker and the father of a young son.
The three have been detained in the Bill Logue Juvenile Justice Center since November and all were certified to stand trial as adults by 74th State District Judge Gary C. Coley Jr. earlier this year. The indictments were in the process of being unsealed Wednesday afternoon after the teens were served notice of the charges.
Waco police say the teens worked with 20-year-old Justin Angel Hernandez to use Facebook Messenger to lure Martinez to a home in the 2200 block of Gurley Avenue. Hernandez, indicted on a capital murder charge in February, remains jailed.
Because the teens were younger than 18 at the time of the offense, they will not be eligible for the death penalty. Castillo, Flores and Marquez will remain at the juvenile center because defendants younger than 17 cannot be housed at the McLennan County Jail.
According to arrest records in Hernandez’s case, Martinez was shot multiple times in front of a home on Gurley Lane that had been broken into through a back window. Police reported finding spent shell casings from a number of different types of firearms at the scene. Witnesses saw multiple people flee the scene.
Officers found Martinez’s wallet, cell phone and other items near his body, police said. After examining his phone, investigators said his Facebook account showed he had been communicating with a woman named Kaelani Moore on Facebook Messenger.
A photo that purported to be Moore’s was on the phone, along with a message telling Martinez to come to 2212 Gurley Ave., according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The message described a vehicle that would be parked in front of the house. Officers later discovered that the Facebook account was deleted or deactivated, the affidavit states.
Detectives found the conversation Martinez was led to believe was with the woman came from Hernandez’s Facebook account, the affidavit alleges. Hernandez directed Martinez to send money to a money transfer application with the screen name “Kaelani M,” the reports state.
Waco police allege in the affidavit that the account associated with the email address on the Kaelani Moore Facebook account was used to “set up the murder victim.”
The subscriber name on the account came back to Hernandez, the affidavit alleges.
Martinez is the brother of 24-year-old Valarie Martinez, who was found shot to death at Tradinghouse Creek Reservoir park along with her 1-year-old daughter, Azariah, in November 2017.
Christopher Paul Weiss is charged with capital murder in their deaths. Weiss’ case remains pending.
If convicted of capital murder, the three face automatic life prison terms and will have to serve at least 40 years before they can seek parole.
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