READING, Pa. – Three men face murder charges following the disappearance and subsequent kidnapping of a Lebanon County man who was last seen on March 25 of this year, says District Attorney John Adams.
23-year-old Michael Petrino Jr. went missing from northeast Reading in March. Police say he was last seen on surveillance footage at 1:30 a.m. being beaten up and put into a trunk of a car.
The man’s body has not been found, but officials have probable cause that Petrino is dead.
“While we have not recovered the body, our evidence that we have been able to find has indicated he is not with us any longer,” says Adams.
According to police, six people have been arrested for his kidnapping, including 19-year-old Jazmiere Brockington, 21-year-old Gerson Caicedo, 20-year-old Kahlil Nein, two unnamed 16-year-olds, and one unnamed 17-year-old.
Those six suspects have been in custody since June of this year, says police.
“We have probable cause that these three individuals were involved in the kidnapping, assault, and homicide … murder of Michael Petrino Jr,” says Adams.
According to DA, the three named suspects, Brockington, Caicedo, and Nein, have recently been charged with second and third degree murder, along with the previous kidnapping, imprisonment, and assault charges.
“This, of course, has been an ongoing investigation, and we have six individuals charged to date with kidnapping, as they were involved with the assault and kidnapping of Michael Petrino. We now have charged three of those individuals with second-degree murder,” says Adams.
Petrino’s body has not been found, and there is additionally no bank information or social media trail around his disappearance, says DA Adams.
“We have used all types of methods to determine if he could be somewhere else, but we’ve come to this conclusion after reviewing all the evidence that we have gathered. There has been no activity on his social media, no bank activity, he’s disappeared, and we firmly believe he is deceased,” says Adams.
The three men are being held without bail.