Last of 6 Merced County defendants convicted in ‘gruesome’ kidnapping, murder of 2 men
The last of six men tied to the brutal 2014 killing of two victims in north Merced County was convicted of homicide on Wednesday — more than seven years after the violent deaths occurred.
A jury deliberated for about a day before delivering Monico Peña, 47, with a guilty verdict on four counts for his role in the double homicide, according to Merced County Chief Deputy District Attorney Matt Serratto, who prosecuted the case.
The counts include first degree murder and kidnapping of the two victims. Peña faces life without parole.
“I think the jury absolutely reached the right result,” Serratto said. “This was a really violent, gruesome double homicide. The evidence is there to show (Peña) was a willing participant.”
Multiple convictions since 2014
The burnt remains of Rudolpho Barona, 32, of Sacramento and his 29-year-old nephew, Reyes Garcia Barona of Atwater, were discovered Oct. 20, 2014, in the trunk of a charred 2006 Chevrolet Impala abandoned in an almond orchard off East Monte Vista Avenue, east of Denair.
Prosecutors believe the two victims were kidnapped Oct. 18, 2014, held in Atwater and Winton homes for two days while bound with duct tape and eventually taken to the orchard to be killed.
The double murder is suspected to have been the bloody conclusion to a dispute over large quantities of marijuana, with possible ties to a Mexican drug cartel, according to prosecutors.
The younger victim had been beaten in the head with a wooden baseball bat and his throat cut before he was left in the car. The elder Barona was shot in the head repeatedly and put in the car’s back seat, according to reports from the Merced County Sheriff’s Office.
Before abandoning the victims’ bodies, the killers torched the car, using diesel fuel, according to investigators.
Six suspects in total were arrested for their connection to the double murder, each pleading not guilty. With the conclusion of Peña’s trial, each have since been convicted.
Peña, formerly a Livingston resident, is believed to have been responsible for Garcia Barona’s death by beating him with the baseball bat.
Peña was first arrested on Oct. 30, 2014, 10 days after the Baronas’ bodies were discovered, and held on more than $1.1 million bail. Trial delays due to various logistic reasons made Peña the longest serving inmate in Merced County Jail, Serratto said.
The man thought to have been partially responsible for orchestrating the homicides, 44-year-old Heliodoro Silva Arreola, was convicted almost exactly five years ago on Nov. 4, 2016, when a jury handed down guilty verdicts on two counts of first-degree murder.
Bernardo Rangel, 50, was identified by prosecutors as the other leader in the slayings and sentenced in 2018.
Three other men were convicted for their parts in the murders: Salvador Silva, 30, Salvador Peña Vasquez, 27, and Gerardo Alvarez Silva, 32, who is believed to have killed Rudolpho Barona by shooting him in the head.
