SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Two men accused of taking part in the murders of two people -- including a pregnant woman -- to keep them from testifying in a San Diego drug trafficking case are facing a slew of federal charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.
Benjamin Madrigal-Birrueta, 22, and Ricardo Orizaba, 21, both of Yakima, Washington, are charged in the deaths of Cesar Armando Murillo, 44, and Maira Sofia Hernandez, 33, both also of Yakima.
Prosecutors say the victims each died of multiple gunshots to the head and their bodies were buried in a desert area near Yakima.
Madrigal-Birrueta faces charges stemming from both victims' deaths, as well as charges for causing the death of Hernandez's unborn child, as she was six months pregnant at the time of her death. Orizaba is charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder. Both have been arrested and ordered detained pending trial.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Madrigal-Birrueta had a leading role in a drug trafficking enterprise that involved using stolen vehicles to smuggle drugs through San Diego-area ports of entry.
The investigation into the drug smuggling led agents to Yakima, where investigators interviewed Murillo and Hernandez in August of 2022.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says both were murdered "within days of those interviews." Following search efforts that exceeded a year, the victims' bodies were recovered last September.
"These executions were an assault on our justice system, designed to silence witnesses and instill fear," said San Diego U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath in a statement. "The obligation to protect witnesses is paramount and the United States will fully prosecute intimidation and violence designed to interfere with the justice system."
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