Two men, Luis Marroquín Cerna, aged 27, and Rodolfo López, aged 29, have been apprehended under suspicion of the homicide of their friend, 32-year-old Rolando Blanco Duarte. The alleged crime, executed in Brooklyn, New York City, involved the accused men later discarding Duarte’s body in a forest in Pennsylvania before setting it ablaze.
As per the details provided by the NYPD, the ill-fated evening began at a local Brooklyn bar near Green-Wood Cemetery, as shared by Patch.com. Later, the trio moved to a structure located on 41st Street in Sunset Park. Here, an altercation broke out, leading to Duarte being shot twice in the early dawn hours.
The police report further suggests that post the fatal shooting, the suspects transported Duarte’s lifeless body to a remote, forested area in Chester County, Pennsylvania, close to Philadelphia. After discarding the body, they set it on fire. The charred remains were later discovered by local Pennsylvania authorities, who, after several days, linked the body back to Brooklyn and alerted the NYPD.
The two accused were taken into custody on a Tuesday afternoon in New York and have since been indicted with charges of murder, as per the Daily News.
Lopez, a resident of Coney Island, was under probation at the time of the arrest due to a prior conviction for driving under the influence, according to police reports. His purported accomplice, who resided close to the crime scene, bore no history of arrests. The victim, a resident of Bath Beach, also had no previous record of arrests.
It is important to note that these charges, at this stage, are allegations. The accused parties maintain the presumption of innocence until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
In a similar incident this week, three individuals sharing a home were charged with disposing of a woman’s body in a plastic dumpster near an MTA yard in The Bronx, New York City, the previous month.
Furthermore, Wednesday saw another man’s body discovered encased in a trash bag in Queens, New York City. In a grim turn, the deceased’s mother was lifeless in their shared residence. A family member, who also resided with the victims, has been taken into custody on tentative charges.