{"id":174679,"date":"2026-02-12T06:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/174679\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T06:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:53:11","slug":"drug-dealer-convicted-in-trafficking-case-tied-to-double-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/174679\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug dealer convicted in trafficking case tied to double murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Federal<\/a>Federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. (File photo by Chris Stone\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

A San Diego federal jury convicted a man Wednesday for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy<\/a> that led to the murders of two people, including a pregnant woman.<\/p>\n

Ricardo Orizaba-Zendejas, 23, was charged along with co-defendant Benjamin Madrigal-Birrueta in connection with the deaths of Cesar Armando Murillo, 44, and Maira Sofia Hernandez, 33, a married couple who were gunned down and buried near a ranch in Yakima, Washington.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say Madrigal-Birrueta, who pleaded guilty last year, fatally shot Murillo, and later arranged Hernandez\u2019s killing, causing the death of her child in utero. Hernandez was six months pregnant at the time.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a> said both the defendants and victims were involved in a Yakima-based drug trafficking enterprise that involved using stolen vehicles to smuggle drugs through San Diego-area ports of entry.<\/p>\n

Madrigal-Birrueta was described by prosecutors as its leader, while Orizaba-Zendejas worked as a drug dealer and debt collector.<\/p>\n

The investigation into the organization began when the defendants\u2019 brothers were stopped by police in a car registered to Hernandez, which contained 150,000 fentanyl pills.<\/p>\n

Soon after that traffic stop, federal agents spoke with Murillo and Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Madrigal-Birrueta later spoke with Murillo and Hernandez, who said \u201cthey wanted to quit the drug business and cooperate with the investigation,\u201d angering Madrigal-Birrueta.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Madrigal-Birrueta shot Murillo multiple times in the back of the head and body at a Yakima ranch on Aug. 28, 2022. He then lured Hernandez to the ranch just under a week later with the promise of reuniting her with her husband, but unnamed \u201cco-conspirators\u201d fatally shot her.<\/p>\n

Both Madrigal-Birrueta and Orizaba-Zendejas are slated to be sentenced in San Diego federal court later this year.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. (File photo by Chris Stone\/Times of San Diego) A San Diego federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75,135,44706],"class_list":{"0":"post-174679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-san-diego","9":"tag-san-diego-headlines","10":"tag-san-diego-news","11":"tag-shooting","12":"tag-u-s-attorneys-office-for-the-southern-district-of-california"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}