Hector ‘Cholo’ Acosta-Ojeda, 30, allegedly shot his roommate multiple times in the skull before he beheaded him in a house and then executed his victim’s terrified girlfriend
A Texas man shot his roommate multiple times in the skull before he beheaded him in a house and then executed his victim’s terrified girlfriend, a court heard Tuesday.
Hector ‘Cholo’ Acosta-Ojeda, 30, allegedly fired two shots into 26-year-old Erick Zelaya’s head as he slept at home in September 2017, before fatally shooting Iris Chirinos, 17, as she tried to flee.
Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Kevin Rousseau told the jury that Acosta-Ojeda said he killed Zelaya in retaliation for a separate shooting that happened at his old house in Arlington.
In that incident, which took place in May the same year, two gunmen opened fire on the house as Acosta-Ojeda and others slept inside.
Moments after the shooting, Zelaya and his girlfriend showed up at the home and seemed to be laughing. he following day Acosta-Ojeda’s home was burned down.
Rousseau said Zelaya had confessed to Acosta-Ojeda that he had been involved in the shooting.
Acosta-Ojeda, 30, allegedly fired two shots into26-year-old Erick Zelaya’s head as he slept at home in September 2017, before fatally shooting Iris Chirinos (above), 17, as she tried to flee.
For the majority of the summer of 2017, Acosta stayed with Zelaya, and during that time he heard rumors his new-found roommate was involved in the shooting. He said the idea that ‘ate away at him’.
Acosta confronted Zelaya about the shooting and he admitted to being involved. Hours later both Zelaya and Chirinos were killed.
After executing the couple, Acosta allegedly went into the backyard and dug a shallow grave for their bodies.
He then picked up a machete and cut off Zelaya’s head and placed it in a trash bag, prosecutors said.
Acosta then ‘made a sign… then grabbed the bag and sign, got on a bicycle and rode to a location near where his home had been burned down’.
The 30-year-old left Zelaya’ severed head near a man-made walking trail not far from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Rousseau said.
Near the head, Arlington police found the sign written in Spanish that read, ‘La Raza Se Resreta y Faltan 4,’ which loosely translates to, ‘The race, or group, must be respected and there’s only four left.’
The gruesome discovery launched a criminal investigation, and a search warrant actioned at Zelaya’s home in the 200 block of Burton Drive, yielded a machete and evidence of blood.
After executing the couple, Acosta allegedly went into the backyard and dug a shallow grave for their bodies. He then picked up a machete and cut off Zelaya’s head and placed it in a trash bag, prosecutors said, before leaving the severed head near a man-made walking trail not far from AT&T Stadium in Arlington (above)
The gruesome discovery launched a criminal investigation, and a search warrant actioned at Zelaya’s home in the 200 block of Burton Drive, yielded a machete and evidence of blood. The couple’s remains were also found buried in the backyard
Buried in the backyard, the remains of two people were also found, which investigators later confirmed to be Chirinos and Zelaya. Both had been been killed by multiple gunshot wounds.
Acosta-Ojeda is charged with capital murder in those Arlington deaths as well as the robbery and killing of Triston Ray Algiene in July 2017 in Fort Worth.
Acosta-Ojeda and another man, Felipe Eduardo Ortiz, are charged with Algiene’s murder.
Algiene’s body was found on October 3, 2017, cut in half and buried in the foundation beneath a bedroom and covered in concrete inside a vacant home in the 6400 block of Woodway Drive.
According to the Star-Telegram, authorities believe Algiene went to the home, where Acosta-Ojeda and Ortiz had been staying, on July 3 for a drug deal – but the meeting was actually a set-up to rob him.
Acosta-Ojeda is charged with capital murder in those Arlington deaths as well as the robbery and killing of Triston Ray Algiene (above) in July 2017 in Fort Worth
Algiene was reportedly bound and beaten while his assailants demanded his debit card’s PIN.
The two other people, believed to have been Chirinos and Zelaya, went to use the card but discovered the PIN didn’t work.
It was then that Acosta-Ojeda shot Algiene in the head, police said.
Chirinos and Zelaya, the apparent accomplices in that robbery, both wound up dead two months later.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Acosta-Ojeda if he’s found guilty, officials confirmed.