A federal jury convicted five MS-13 gang members Friday for their part in the kidnapping and brutal murder of two teenage Virginia boys whom they “erroneously” suspected of being members of a rival gang and police informant.
Elmer Zelaya Martinez, 31; Ronald Herrera Contreras, 24; Henry Zelaya Martinez, 28; Pablo Velasco Barrera, 24; and Duglas Ramirez Ferrera, 25, of El Salvador conspired to kidnap and kill two 17-year-old boys from Falls Church whom they wrongly suspected of being in a rival gang and 14-year-old boy from Alexandria whom they wrongly suspected of being a police informant in August 2016, according to court records.
The gang members lured both boys into Holmes Run Stream Valley Park on August 28 of that year under the guise that they would be attending a gang meeting in the woods.
All five defendants found guilty on Friday in a Virginia federal court were charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering activity; conspiracy to kidnap; murder in aid of racketeering activity; kidnapping resulting in death. They each are facing mandatory life sentences.
MS-13 is a transnational gang made up mostly of individuals of Salvadoran or other Central American descent, according to the DOJ.
The gang has more than 10,000 members conducting regular activities across at least ten states and Washington, D.C., “with thousands more conducting gang activities in Central America and Mexico,” the department noted.
