Two people who relatives say are the victim’s cousins have been charged in connection with the murder in Connecticut of an 18-year-old whose body was found wrapped in a comforter on a highway.
Edgar Josué Chiche Martínez’s body was found on Pope Park Highway in Hartford on Saturday morning. He was just days away from his 19th birthday, relatives told NBC Connecticut.
The body was taken to the state chief medical examiner’s office, where it was determined the victim suffered “from apparent gunshot wounds,” Hartford police said in a news release.
The investigation found that Martínez had been shot inside an apartment on Magnolia Street the previous day and that his body was placed on the highway about a day before he was discovered.
On Sunday, two suspects, Sender Soto-Veliz, 21, and a 17-year-old, were arrested, police said. The teenager was charged with murder and tampering with evidence, and Soto-Veliz was charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence.
Martínez’s family said that his parents live in Guatemala and that he lived at the apartment on Magnolia Street with his cousins, who are now charged in connection with his slaying.
Hartford police also confirmed that the suspects are cousins of the victim. It was not immediately clear whether the suspects have attorneys.
“What we do want is for earthly justice to be made, because God’s justice is on the other side,” Verónica Imelda Martínez Mayen, the victim’s aunt, told NBC Connecticut.
She said that Martínez did not show up for work on Thursday and Friday and that she knew something was wrong.
Although police did not disclose a potential motive, Martínez Mayen said the family believes the slaying was over money.
She described Martínez as a friendly and a good kid who stayed away from parties and had graduated from Hartford High School in the spring.
Nimsa Martínez, his sister, said: “He was the person who always took care of me, despite him not being OK. I’m going to remember him as the most beautiful person I could’ve ever known.”