Gang members kill US teen, fearing she would report them
A 14-year-old girl was stripped and beaten to death in gang-related crime in Maryland, United States. Police found the body of Ariana Funes-Diaz lying in a creek near 64th Avenue in Riverdale on Wednesday morning, about a month after she was reported missing. The police have apprehended three suspects, including two alleged members of the international criminal gang MS-13. One suspect remains at large.
Funes-Diaz attacked with machete, baseball bat
According to Anne Arundel County Police Department, Funes-Diaz was lured to the location where her body was found on April 18 and was attacked with a baseball bat and machete. Reportedly, three people - Josue Fuentes-Ponce (16) of Bladensburg, Maryland; Joel Escobar (17) of Northeast DC, and Cynthia Hernandez-Nucamendi (14) of Lothian, Maryland - have been arrested and charged as adults with first-degree murder.
Fourth suspect, who filmed video, remains unidentified
A video of the murder was also filmed, according to police and court documents. While Escobar and Fuentes-Ponce committed the murder, another person filmed the crime. However, they remain unidentified and at large. Efforts are on to locate the suspect.
Suspects, murder victim committed a crime a day before killing
A day before she died, Funes-Diaz had reportedly worked with three suspects to commit a crime where they lured a man to Northeast Washington and then thrashed and robbed him. Since the man was a family friend, Funes-Diaz begged her accomplices to show mercy. Because of that, the others worried she might turn them over to the police and killed her the next day.
Funes-Diaz lured man to a location where he was robbed
On April 17, Funes-Diaz tricked a man, who knew her mother, to drive her to Benning Road metro station where he was dragged by 15 people to an abandoned house. He was thrashed, robbed of $500 and a bank card, and interrogated about gang affiliations.
Police, court documents reveal gruesome details of the crime
On April 18, bearing doubts about Funes-Diaz's loyalty in connection with the crime, the group hatched a plot to kill her. They walked her to tunnel by a creek where Escobar attacked her with a baseball bat and Fuentes-Ponce with a machete. Another person filmed the crime, while Hernandez-Nucamendi stood outside the tunnel. The party then walked out of the woods and drove off.
