Martin Alejandro Cota-Monroy, 38, stole 400 pounds of marijuana and some meth drugs from a Mexican drug cartel, the PEI-Estatales/El Chapo drug trafficking organization, but told members of the drug cartel that the drugs had been seized by the U.S. Border Patrol.
The cartel found out about the fib, and hired men from the group “Los Relampagos” to kidnap and kill him in Nogales, Mexico. Cota-Monroy lied again and told cartel member he would pay back the money and use his house for collateral, but the house wasn’t his.
Cota-Monroy’s fled to the Phoenix area, which angered the cartel leaders. They hired assassins from the group “El Gio” to go to Chandler, Arizona, befriend Cota-Monroy and kill him.
Cota-Monroy’s body was found October 10, 2010 in a Chandler apartment with his severed head a couple of feet away. He had been bludgeoned and stabbed in the head, and had defensive wounds on his hands. Candles and a Ouija board, which are used in Santa Muerte or Saint of Death rituals, were found in the apartment. No solid connection has been determined of the items with the violent homicide.
Crisantos Moroyoqui, has been charged in the killing (second-degree murder), and three others, Jose David Castro Reyes, 25; Isai Aguilar Morales, 22, and a man between the ages of 20 and 27 known only by the nickname “El Joto” are believed to have fled to Mexico. “El Joto” is a derogatory Spanish slang for a gay man.
Police believe the suspects fled to Mexico in a 2003 Red Ford Expedition with California license plate number 6FWR784.
Police said a rival drug cartel, the Beltran-Leyva Organization, was possibly planning on killing the three men. Cota-Monroy was reportedly a mid-level member of that drug cartel, for which his brother also worked.
Decapitations are common in drug wars between cartels.