washingtontimes.com
BALTIMORE -- The families of three slain Mexican children and the relatives accused of the killings paid human traffickers, or "coyotes," to smuggle them into the country, a Baltimore police detective testified yesterday.
"Something was paid, but to whom and how much, I don't know," said Detective Irvin Bradley, the lead investigator in the case.
The testimony fit a defense theory that family members involved in the smuggling, not the defendants, killed Lucero Solis Quezada, 8, her brother Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr., 9, and their 10-year-old cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada to "send a message" about not paying the fee.
The children were beaten with an aluminum baseball bat and nearly decapitated with a boning knife in their Northwest Baltimore apartment in May 2004.
The children's cousin Adan Canela, 18, and their uncle Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 23, are on trial on first-degree murder charges in Baltimore Circuit Court. They face life in prison if convicted.
The defendants, the victims and their immediate families were illegal aliens from Mexico at the time of the killings. Family members have received special visas for the trial, which could last a month.
Posted by katie at July 13, 2005