Brothers plead guilty in 2007 South Nashville man's fatal shooting case
Two brothers arrested in connection to the nearly 15-year-old fatal cold-case shooting of a Nashville man pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges Thursday and were sentenced to six years in prison.
Under a plea deal, Adam and Ricky Saysongkham each plead guilty in Davidson County Circuit Court to a voluntary manslaughter charge and agreed to serve six years in prison, Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office Assistant District Attorney Cameron Williams said.
Williams and Assistant District Attorney Charlene Davis were asked to serve as special prosecutors in the case because a witness provided information to a Nashville assistant district attorney who was a potential witness in the case.
2007 case: Man charged in 2007 cold case slaying of South Nashville resident
The brothers were arrested and charged in the April 18, 2007 fatal shooting of 24-year-old Jose Miguel Avendano.
The Metro Nashville Police Department reported that about 3 a.m. on the day of the shooting, Avendano suffered a gunshot wound to his neck, while apparently looking out his bedroom window in response to gunfire in the parking lot of his apartment complex, Dominion House on Linbar Drive.
About an hour prior to the shooting, two other residents of the complex caught two men attempting to break into a Honda Civic parked in front of the E building there, police said.
A confrontation and brief scuffle took place and the car burglars, one who detectives believe was Adam Saysongkham, got away.
The investigation by Det. Mike Roland shows that Saysongkham returned and fired shots into the E building subsequently striking Avendano while in his lower-level apartment. Neither Avendano nor people living above him were connected to the Honda or the earlier confrontation involving the car burglary, police said.
Police later identified a suspect, and an eyewitness identified him in a lineup. However, the case was dismissed in 2007 because the witnesses failed to appear in court.
In 2017, MNPD's Cold Case Unit reopened the case when detectives received new information regarding Avenado’s death that implicated the Saysongkhams as the men responsible his death.
Adam Saysongkham was 17 and his brother was 19 at the time of the murder.
Natalie Neysa Alund is based in Nashville at The Tennessean and covers breaking news across the South for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Adam, Ricky Saysongkham plead guilt in Jose Avendano 2007 shooting
