A 42-year-old man entered a not guilty plea Monday afternoon to a charge of capital murder of multiple persons.
Alberto Ocañas Garcia appeared in court via videoconferences over an indictment alleging he was one of five men who tried to steal marijuana from a 24-year-old man on Dec. 26, 2015, during a botched drug rip that ended with the death of the robbery target and one of the alleged robbers.
Garcia, who had been a fugitive since the shooting, was arrested in late October 2020.
Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies found Rodriguez Villanueva Alvarez, the robbery target, and 43-year-old Juan Carmorlinga Torres dead at the back of a property in the 6100 block of Dario Street in rural Mission.
Investigators say a confrontation ensued when the men tried to rob Alvarez of the marijuana, resulting in his and Torres’ deaths.
Also charged in the case are 55-year-old Ramon Aguilar, who pleaded guilty to murder in 2017 and is serving a 28-year prison sentence, and 31-year-old Javier Mendez Rodriguez, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of capital murder of multiple persons.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested Rodriguez at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge in March 2017.
He is awaiting trial.
Both Rodriguez and Garcia are being held on a $2 million bond.
Guillermo Peña, then 29, remains a fugitive.
