Federal authorities charged five alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua this week in a 2024 kidnapping and murder case near Dallas.
Prosecutors say gang members kidnapped Nilzuly Arneaud Petit, 33, along with his 13-year-old daughter and 12-year-old nephew from their Dallas apartment in the middle of the night. The gang members zip-tied all three and demanded money, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould said during a press conference Wednesday.
After realizing the man couldn’t pay, Raybould said, the kidnappers drove to a bridge and ordered him to jump off. They shot him in front of the children when he refused to jump and attempted to escape, Raybould said.
“And let me be clear, we’re just continuing to investigate and investigate and we’re going to dig deeper and deeper,” Raybould said. “To members of TDA, we’re coming for you.”
Petit was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the head in Farmers Branch just north of Dallas at about 3:40 a.m. on Aug. 24, 2024.
The suspects left the scene with the two children and released them unharmed on an Interstate 35E service road in Lewisville, police have said.
According to the indictment, the kidnapping was carried out to maintain and increase the defendants’ position in Tren de Aragua.
The defendants are Hector Asdrubal Garcia Zuniga, 36; Carlos Luis Zambrano Bolivar, 27; Jhonny Jesus Martinez Serrano, 31; Jhonatan Nahin Toro Gonzalez, 23; and Ehiker Alexander Morales Mendoza, 39.
Zuniga, Bolivar and Serrano are also charged with murder.
If convicted, the defendants face up to life in prison. Zuniga, Bolivar and Serrano also face the possibility of the death penalty.
“The father in Texas should be alive today,” U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said. He blamed the Biden administration’s border policies for allowing the alleged gang members to illegally enter the country.
The Justice Department on Wednesday also announced charges against three alleged Tren de Aragua members in Illinois related to a plot to kidnap and kill a man in Chicago.