EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A jailhouse conversation in Hudspeth County has become a key piece of evidence in the investigation into the Rim Road double murders, after an inmate told El Paso detectives that one of the suspects confessed to the shooting.
According to an arrest report, on Sept. 16 an inmate working outside the detention facility as a mechanic at the impound lot in Hudspeth County told investigators that suspect Manuel Canedo, 17, who had been arrested for trafficking, asked him if he had heard of a shooting in El Paso before allegedly admitting it was him and his “homie.”
The statement refers to a shooting in Central El Paso at about 3 a.m. at Upper Tom Lea Park on Rim Road on Sept. 12 that killed two 20-year-olds, Joshua Michael Himes and Francisco Javier Ignacio.
The inmate told detectives that Canedo allegedly said he and his “homie” were “jumped,” and so they started shooting and “knocked two of them.” In the report, the inmate said he recognized Canedo because he had been incarcerated with him “several weeks earlier.”
The report also connected Canedo and two other suspects — Jesus Ivan Lopez, 20, and Jose Emmanuel Saldana, 19 — to the vehicle used in the getaway. Witnesses told investigators the suspected shooters left the scene in a white, lifted, four-door pickup truck with black and silver rims, oversized tires and bright-white aftermarket LED headlights.
Detectives said they tracked the pickup through surveillance video after the shooting and saw it drop off a passenger at an apartment complex in West El Paso. Detectives later identified and interviewed that passenger, who told them that at the park, while they were drinking, Himes and Ignacio made some “disrespectful remarks” before following the passenger and the suspects to the truck to attack them.
The passenger told investigators that after one of the victims punched Canedo, Canedo and Saldana responded with gunfire, while Lopez acted as the getaway driver.
On Sept. 17, after Lopez was arrested, he also allegedly admitted to investigators that he drove the pickup truck and identified Canedo and Saldana as the shooters, according to the report.
Jail records show all three suspects were booked Friday into the El Paso County Downtown Jail and charged with capital murder of multiple persons. Bond for Canedo and Saldana was set at $750,000, while Lopez’s bond was set at $1,000,000. As of Monday morning, all three remained in jail, according to jail records.