A third murder has been linked to a suspect who was arrested after a severed head was found near a Texas walking trail.
Hector Acosta-Ojeda, 28, was indicted by Tarrant County grand jury in Texas on Thursday on three charges of capital murder.
Acosta-Ojeda, from Fort Worth, Texas, was originally charged with the double murder of Erick Zelaya and his girlfriend Iris Chirinos, 17.
He and Felipe Ortiz, 29, now face charges in the murder of Triston Algiene, whose body was found under a Fort Worth home on October 3.
Investigators believe Algiene was murdered in July after he went to the Fort Worth home to purchase drugs and was instead robbed and then killed.
Hector Acosta-Ojeda (left) and Felipe Ortiz (right) were both charged on Thursday in connection with the murder of Triston Algiene in July 2017. His body was found buried underneath the concrete in a home in Fort Worth, Texas, months after he was murdered
Pictured: The Fort Worth home where Algiene’s body was discovered. Police believe he went to the home to buy drugs but was then robbed and murdered
Algiene’s body was severed into two pieces and buried underneath the home’s concrete foundation.
He was reported missing by his family in early July, but the body wasn’t discovered until October.
The 34-year-old reportedly showed up to the house, was tied up and then beaten until he revealed his debit card PIN. He was then killed and buried.
Investigators had to order a DNA test to confirm the body was Algiene’s because most of it had decomposed before he was discovered.
Iris Chirinos (left) and her boyfriend Erick Zelaya were killed in September and their bodies were buried in Arlington, Texas. Investigators believe they were involved in the murder of Algiene (pictured right) in July before they were killed two months later
The investigation into the three murders was pieced together after the severed head of Zelaya was found near a walking trail on Sept. 2.
The head was left with a note saying in Spanish ‘La Raza Se Respeta y Faltan 4,’ or ‘The race is respected and there’s four left,’ according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Zelaya’s severed head was found by police in September with a note. They initially arrested Mario Sanchez (pictured) for the murder of Zelaya. He confessed he watched Acosta-Ojeda cut off Zelaya’s head and then helped him bury the body
Zelaya and Chirinios are both believed to have been involved in the robbery and killing of Algiene before they also were murdered.
Their bodies were shot multiple times and buried in a shallow grave near Arlington, Texas.
But the bodies weren’t discovered until after Zelaya’s head was found near the walking trail, which was said to have been left purposely for police.
Mario Sanchez, 19, is also said to be involved in the three murders.
He was initially arrested after he told police he was called to the Fort Worth home during the murder of Zelaya.
Sanchez said he saw Acosta-Ojeda cut Zelaya’s head off with a machete, which authorities later found after they searched the home.
He claimed he was then forced to cut off Zelaya’s arms and help bury him.
Acosta-Ojeda remains in Tarrant County Jail with bond set at $1 million for the capital murder case. Ortiz is also in jail and has been there since August on charges that he tried to evade police during a separate arrest.
Records show Sanchez, who was originally charged with murder, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of tampering with evidence when he allegedly helped bury Zelaya.