Rather than repay his $20,000 debt, Luis Vasquez took his loan shark's life.
That is the motive police point to after charging Mr. Vasquez with two counts of homicide on Thursday.
As dusk set in over Coolbaugh Township Park on Aug. 16, police said Mr. Vasquez, 28, met the money-man, Bertoldo Velez, 55, and his muscle, Joseph King, 38, in the park's gravel lot.
Hours later, a Pocono Mountain Regional Police officer would find what he left behind: six .45-caliber shell casings, three used bullets and the bullet-riddled bodies of Mr. King and Mr. Velez, whose head had also been bludgeoned with a rock to the point that it "appeared to be missing," according to a criminal complaint.
Earlier trouble
It was not the first time the three men had met to discuss the debt, police said.
About 10 days before the double homicide, Mr. Velez took his son, Roy Velez, and Mr. King to see Mr. Vasquez and get his money back.
The latter had been paying $300 to his co-worker at United Envelope in Mount Pocono every 15 days - $150 toward the principal and $150 toward the interest, according to the complaint.
The three men ultimately left without Mr. Velez's money, but not before Mr. Velez threatened Mr. Vasquez, the victim's son told police, according to the complaint.
Before he and Mr. Velez went to the place where both men would be killed, Mr. King texted his girlfriend, telling her that he and Mr. Velez were on their way to the park to collect on a debt.
When he did not come home that night, she "expected the worst," according to the complaint.
By the time they spoke to Mr. Vasquez, investigators knew about his debt, the meeting and the threat.
He told them that he did owe Mr. Velez money - he put the number at $10,000 - and described the payment plan.
He also admitted to being at the park the night of the homicides, but explained that he went only to watch a soccer game, left by 6:30 and even met Mr. Velez at home to give him another payment that night.
Different account
A woman who lived with Mr. Vasquez remembered it differently.
He only left their 1007 Thunder Drive home in Pocono Summit at about 6 p.m. and did not return until 9 p.m. She remembered him wearing jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers and carrying a black backpack.
But Mr. Vasquez had told investigators that he had shorts on that night, according to the complaint.
Faced with the inconsistencies, investigators pulled Mr. Vasquez's cellphone records and verified that his phone's signal had been transmitting off a cell tower near the crime scene between 7 and 8:21 p.m. - placing him there at the time of the homicides.
Cops get a break
But the break in the case came on Sept. 4, when a man found a black backpack lying in a drainage ditch about 100 yards from Mr. Vasquez's home.
Inside, the man found a .45-caliber handgun, a T-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a pair of blood-stained jeans, white sneakers and socks, latex gloves and white knit gloves, also stained red, according to the complaint.
Testing at the state police crime lab would confirm that the blood belonged to Mr. Velez, that the DNA found in the gloves came from Mr. Vasquez and that the bullets found at the scene and inside the two bodies came from the gun in the backpack, according to the complaint.
On Thursday, Mr. Vasquez was arrested and arraigned on two counts of homicide and one count of tampering with physical evidence. He was sent to Monroe County Correctional Facility without bail.
A preliminary hearing for Mr. Vasquez is scheduled for Wednesday.
Contact the writer: domalley@timesshamrock.com, @domalleyTT on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.