Posted on 01/06/2003 11:18:27 PM PST by lewislynn
Jan. 6, 2003, 10:39PM
EDINBURG -- There was no signature to the bullet-ridden slaughter that left six men dead, Chief Quirino Muñoz said Monday as police groped for clues to one of the most horrific crimes in local memory.
"You generally associate a hit with one shot, one person," he said.
Sunday's victims were shot multiple times, some beyond recognition, much in the style of the yet unsolved September ambush of four Mexican women coming home from a bar in nearby Donna.
Muñoz said he was mystified as to why the assailants would leave a witness -- the mother of two of the victims.
The woman, Rose Ramos, was told to face a wall while one of her sons was shot in the larger of two ramshackle houses sharing a semirural lot of this Texas-Mexico border city. Her other son was among the five other victims found dead in and near the smaller house.
Though left tied up with electrical cord, she broke free minutes after the approximately 1 a.m. Sunday attack and called police.
She told them one of the men was wearing a ski mask and a jacket with "police" written on it and that they demanded drugs, weapons and money.
Judging from the noise and voices Ramos reported hearing, police believe there were as many as five assailants.
Muñoz said police have no leads. Hopes that a missing pickup truck could help lead to the assailants evaporated after the vehicle was accounted for.
Three cars were removed from the premises, including a rental car that showed signs of entry. All were being searched for fingerprints or other evidence.
Muñoz said possible motives included drugs, revenge or a premeditated hit.
Muñoz identified the victims as Jerry Hidalgo, 24, and Ray Hidalgo, 30, brothers who lived at the larger of the two houses where their mother had been tied with the cord. Also killed were brothers Juan Delgado Jr., 32, and Juan Delgado III, 20.
The fifth and sixth victims were identified as Ruben Rolando Castillo, 32, and Jimmy Armendariz, 22.
Muñoz shared few details about the victims, other than that most had been friends for some time and that the Hidalgo brothers were known to police from prior investigations. He would not elaborate.
A public records search by the Associated Press turned up criminal record matches for two of the victims.
The elder Delgado pleaded guilty to a burglary in 1990 and was given a five-year county jail term after his probation was revoked in 1992. He was also convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Castillo was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 1994. He too was convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession.
For Hidalgo County, it is the second multiple murder to make national headlines in only a few months.
The county's southern boundary is the Rio Grande and beyond the narrow river, Mexico. As such, the region is prone to drug smuggling from Mexico and to drug-related gangs and violence. The assailants could have been across the border within minutes of the attack.
Muñoz said Edinburg had begun reaching out to other police agencies, including authorities in Mexico, but didn't have so much as a license plate number or good description of an assailant to help.
The county's highest elected official, County Judge Ramon Garcia, did not return a call for comment.
As of late Monday, the case appeared as obscure as the Donna murders.
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