Two men arrested Thursday in the kidnapping of a Lebanon County man are believed to be the last people to have seen the victim alive, Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said Friday.

Reading police and U.S. marshals on Thursday took Josiah M. Vaux of Mohnton and Luke C. Foxx of York Haven of York County into custody, city police said.

Arrest details were unavailable.

Vaux, 24, and Foxx, 21, were both committed to the Berks County Jail without bail following arraignment before District Judge Tonya A. Butler on charges of second-degree murder, kidnapping and related offenses.

With the arrest of Vaux and Foxx, investigators have eight defendants in the March abduction of Michael Petrino Jr., 23, who has not been found but is presumed dead by authorities.

Four other defendants — Gerson Caicedo, 21, of Leesport; Khalil Nein, 20, of Reading; Jazmeire Brockington, 18, of Reading; and Amir Frazier, 16, of Muhlenberg Township — were held for court on all charges following a preliminary hearing in August before Butler.

Caicedo, Nein and Brockington face second‑ and third‑degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, and related offenses. They remain in the county jail without bail pending further court action.

Frazier, who is charged as an adult, faces counts of kidnapping, simple assault and conspiracy. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Two juveniles, Jayden Santiago and Jayden Edwards, were charged as adults with kidnapping and conspiracy and remain free pending further court action, Adams said Friday.

Investigators said the teens lured Petrino to a secluded area in northwest Reading, where he was beaten and forced into a vehicle by the adults. Authorities believe Petrino was then taken to an unknown location and killed.

Adams said Petrino was alive was he was put into the vehicle Foxx and Vaux were using.

“We believe, based on evidence that we have developed in this case, that Foxx and Vaux were the last individuals that were known to have been with Michael Petrino Jr.,” the district attorney said. “They both had firearms. We believe, based upon the evidence, that they were ultimately the individuals responsible for the death of Michael Petrino Jr.”

Adams said investigators are confident Petrino is dead.

“We have done a lot of searches and otherwise we’ve done a lot of work to corroborate that he is deceased with, unfortunately, the absence of not having his body per se,” he said.

Adams said he is planning a press conference for Monday to further discuss the investigation.

Petrino was reported missing to Western Lebanon police on March 27 by his father, who said he last saw his son on March 21.

According to investigators:

Authorities in Lebanon County determined Petrino had been frequenting the Reading area before he vanished, and city police assumed the lead in the case.

A few days after his disappearance, Petrino’s rented Jeep Compass was found abandoned in the 1200 block of Muhlenberg Street. The vehicle was towed and processed for evidence.

During the early-morning hours of March 25, Petrino was lured to the area of North Second and Oley streets by the three teens, who were traveling in Petrino’s rented Jeep.

Information gathered from multiple sources indicated Petrino had ongoing conflicts with several individuals in Berks and that a “bounty” had been placed on him.

Surveillance footage from the intersection shows Petrino’s Jeep entering an alley and parking. Santiago is seen exiting the vehicle while using a cellphone. A review of digital evidence revealed that the three teens were participating in a group chat with Caicedo, Nein and Brockington.

Santiago said in the chat that he would signal when the Jeep arrived. Surveillance footage shows that signal being given and a tan Chevrolet soon enters the alley and parks bumper-to-bumper with the Jeep.

Evidence indicates Petrino was assaulted, forcibly removed from the Jeep, put into the sedan and driven from the area.

Investigators determined that Edwards, Santiago and Frazier left the area of Second and Oley streets to abandon the Jeep and destroy Petrino’s cellphone.

Investigators determined Nein, Brockington and Caicedo were in communication and drove to a secluded location, where they metFoxx and Vaux, both of whom had firearms. Foxx and Vaux bound Petrino, put him in their vehicle and left.