Four people have been found guilty of torturing and killing a man in Levy County.
On August 11, 2019, officers from the Levy County Sheriff’s Office were called to a rural area of Morriston to look at a body that had been found on the side of the road.
The victim was named as 33-year-old Jafet Padin Rodriquez, and police said his injuries showed he had been shot and stabbed.
In June, four people were arrested in connection with the murder. They were Omar Alexis Rodriguez Ortiz, 43, Christian Cirilo Cardona, 32, Jesse Torres, 36, and Kesia Moraima Mundo Munoz, 41.
The police say that Ortiz, Cardona, Torres, and Munoz beat Rodriquez up at Mundo’s house, then drove him to Morriston and shot him.
Later, Ortiz, Cardona, Torres, and Munoz set Rodriguez’s car on fire and left it there.
On November 5, 2024, Judge William E. Davis gave Ortiz a life sentence for first-degree murder and thirty years in prison for planning to kill someone. Cirilo got thirty years in prison for second-degree murder and ten years of release.
Both Jesse Torres and Kesia Mundo pleaded guilty to planning to kill someone. Torres was given 20 years in jail, and Mundo was given 15 years.