HIALEAH, Fla. – Three men posed as car buyers in the summer of 1991 to rob — and later murder — a man in his Hialeah home, according to police.
Two of the suspects were caught and later convicted, but authorities had been trying to find and jail the third man for more than three decades.
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That changed on Wednesday. Police arrested the final suspect, Walter Martinez, at Miami International Airport.
Martinez was 18 when police said he, along with Elpidio Reyes and Ulises Reyes, then 19 and 18 respectively, went to Manuel Palacios’ home on July 20, 1991.
According to an arrest warrant written by then-Hialeah police Detective Michael Flutie, the three men had visited the home on West 74th Street twice that day, “purportedly to purchase a car from the victim.”
Police said Palacios’ 12-year-old son would witness the three enter the home and force his father inside at gunpoint.
Authorities said the trio bound and gagged Palacios. His son ran into his room as he heard the men tell his father, “Give me your money, give me your jewelry.”
Palacios’ son was able to escape through a window and ask a neighbor for help.
But police said by the time they arrived, they found Palacios on his front steps suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He died soon after at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
“Blood inside the victim’s home indicates the victim was shot inside then staggered outside,” Flutie wrote. “The victim’s home was also ransacked.”
Elpidio and Ulises Reyes would later be convicted of charges including second-degree murder, according to Miami-Dade court records.
Martinez, now 51, is facing charges of first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed burglary, kidnapping and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
It’s not clear if Martinez was extradited from elsewhere or captured returning to South Florida Wednesday; Local 10 News has contacted HPD seeking additional information on his arrest.
What is clear, however, is that Martinez is not likely to leave jail any time soon: He’s being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.