MS-13 gang members charged in death of teen found buried in Olney

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Investigators in Montgomery County believe they now know who murdered 18-year-old Rosa Sanchez Merino. 

On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Police Department announced the arrests of four suspects who have been charged in connection with the teenager's death. 

According to the department, Roberto Carlos Rivera-Delgado, Iris Tudella Alonzo-Salgado, Aracely Abarca-Melgar, and Edwin Alexander Rivas-Salvador killed Sanchez Merino sometime around May 1 and buried her in a shallow grave along Brookville Road in Olney. 

In late September, after Rivera-Delgado, 23, was arrested for violating his parole in Nevada, he was extradited to Maryland. Police records revealed that the suspect would later lead detectives to the exact spot in the woods where Sanchez Merino was buried. 

During an interview with detectives, court documents revealed Rivera-Delgado told them he was a member of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang, better known as MS-13. 

He also confirmed the three others were members of the same criminal street gang and involved in Sanchez Merino's death. 

Prior to the homicide, Rivera-Delgado said that all the suspects were in a car that he was driving. Charging documents state that the group was looking for a location to commit the murder and Rivera-Delgado drove them to a park in Olney.

Once everyone got out of the car, Delgado-Rivera told detectives Sanchez Merino was led into the woods and placed on her knees. Then, he said, they each took turns striking the teen in the neck with a machete. 

When she was no longer conscious, they dug a grave and buried her.

On Oct. 1, Sanchez Merino's dead body was sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner — where her death was determined to be a homicide. 

Warrants were subsequently issued for the arrests of 23-year-old Alonzo-Salgado, a Frederick resident, and 21-year-old Abarca-Melgar from New Hampshire. 

Authorities plan to extradite Abarca-Melgar to Montgomery County after she was recently arrested in New York. The 16-year-old suspect, Rivas Salvador, was apprehended Tuesday and is expected to be charged as an adult. 

As of now, all four suspects are facing first-degree murder charges.