Two more charged with murder in MS-13-related killing of Fairfax teen

By Justin Jouvenal December 21 at 11:45 AM

Two more men have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the MS-13-related killing of a Fairfax County high school student in August, Prince William County police said Thursday.

Tomas Antonio Pino-Mejia, 19, and Ismael Antonio Hernandez-Navarro, 19, both of no fixed address, were arrested in Frederick, Md., and Tennessee respectively in recent days in connection with the killing of Miguel Angel Ruiz Carrillo, 18.

The killing is the latest in a series of brutal slayings in Virginia and Maryland tied to a resurgent MS-13 gang, which is the region’s largest and most violent.

Ruiz Carrillo, who had ties to MS-13, met gang members in a wooded area Aug. 3 near his home in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, according to recently unsealed search warrants in Fairfax. He was assaulted, driven from the scene and never heard from again.

Ruiz Carrillo’s body was discovered in Nokesville, Va., on Aug. 22, police said. Detectives uncovered information during the investigation that led them to search the area where his remains were discovered.

Mercedes Carrillo, the victim’s mother, said at the time that friends of her son’s saw a group attack him near a pond close to their apartment in the 4200 block of Buckman Road. She said she did not think he was in MS-13.

Witnesses saw Ruiz Carrillo and gang members walking into a wooded area, where he was assaulted, according to the search warrants. After the assault, the gang members and Ruiz Carrillo were seen getting into a blue SUV being driven by a female associate of MS-13, the court records show.

The search warrants do not detail what happened to Ruiz Carrillo after that, but his mother said in an August interview she had not heard from him after he disappeared, and calls to his cellphone went unreturned.

About two weeks after the slaying, Fairfax County police announced they had arrested Jose Vincent-Sosa, 20, and Edwin Dinarte Moreno, 18, both of Alexandria, along with a female juvenile, charging them all with Ruiz Carrillo’s abduction and with gang participation.

In September, Prince William police announced they had charged Hector Armando Gamez-Amaya, 28, with murder in Ruiz Carrillo’s killing. Gamez-Amaya was arrested in McDonough, Ga.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Gamez-Amaya had entered the United States illegally at an unknown time and was from El Salvador.

An immigration detainer has been placed on him.

A search warrant states one of the gang members, who accompanied Ruiz Carrillo into the woods, was a local MS-13 clique leader who went by the nickname “Buny.” He may be Gamez-Amaya.

The announcement of the new arrests comes a day after a federal indictment was filed against two Maryland MS-13 members, who were accused of fatally beating and stabbing a homeless man so they could be promoted in the gang.

Earlier this month, search warrants unsealed in Fairfax also revealed two bodies found in Holmes Run Park in February were two missing Fairfax teens, Edvin Mendez and Sergio Triminio, who were also probably killed by MS-13 members. No one has been charged in those slayings.

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