Three men accused of belonging to a criminal organization that authorities said is responsible for the deaths of a Brownsville father and son have been indicted on multiple charges.
Lawrence James Strong, 36, Cesar Olvera, 22, and Roman Torres, 38, will be formally arraigned March 15 before 107th state District Court Judge Benjamin Euresti Jr. on the charges, state court documents indicate.
Strong is charged with one count of capital murder, two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
Olvera is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon.
Torres is charged with two counts of direct activities of a street gang.
According to a Cameron County Sheriff’s Office news release, on Dec. 29, 2021, deputies responded to Old Port Isabel Road north of FM 511 in Loma Alta in reference to two dead men, identified as Ines Cruz and Manuel Cruz, leading to a murder investigation.
In an earlier interview, authorities said the men appeared to have been killed execution style.
Authorities said both men had gunshot wounds to their heads and that their legs and hands were bound with rope. There was tape over their mouths and black T-shirts over their heads.
“The (T-shirts) were tied over their heads. It appears to be execution style. It appears to be organized criminal activity,” said Mary Esther Sorola, Cameron County justice of the peace Precinct 2, Place 3, who pronounced the men dead.
The sheriff’s department received a call at about 1:30 p.m. Dec. 29, 2021, about two men sleeping on the side of the road, Sheriff Eric Garza said. When the deputies arrived at the scene — off of old Port Isabel Road — they found the victims.
Garza said authorities believe the men were killed at another location and their bodies were dumped at the location.
The indictment against Strong partially reads that he caused the deaths of the Inez and Manuel Cruz by shooting them and was part of their abduction by “moving him from one place to another or by confining them.”
The indictment against Olvera states his kidnapping of Inez and Manuel Cruz led to their deaths.
The indictment against Torres in part reads that his leadership of a criminal street gang directed or supervised them to commit murder by members of a street gang.
Cameron County jail records indicate that all three men remain jailed at a county facility.
