AKRON, Ohio — It's now up to a Summit County jury to decide if a Copley man is responsible for three brutal homicides that shocked people in two communities.
The jurors began their deliberations in the Elias Gudino trial Thursday afternoon. He was indicted on 18 charges, including aggravated murder, attempted murder and kidnapping.
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The victims, who were from Honduras, were found tied up, gagged and shot to death in March 2023.
The bodies of Inmer Reyes and Victor Varela-Rodriguez were found off Cordova Avenue in Akron. About an hour later, the body of Domingo Castillo-Reyes was discovered just off Wright Road in Copley.
The central question for the jury could focus on whether Gudino should be found guilty as the mastermind behind the deaths—or, as the defense contends— be found not guilty because he was under duress from the Mexican drug cartel.
Prosecutors said Gudino and another unknown masked man kidnapped four men from a Youngstown home and then drove the victims to Summit County.
All of the victims were shot in the head, but one of the men, Oscar-Meija Gomez, was grazed and survived. He testified against Gudino and identified him as the gunman.
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During his closing argument, defense attorney John Greven said it wasn't Gudino who killed the men. Greven is using an affirmative defense, claiming that Gudino was under duress during the kidnapping plot by someone in the Mexican drug cartel.
"Somebody wanted to make sure that those bodies got found and somebody wanted to send a message, and that somebody that wanted to send a message was not Elias Gudino. That somebody who wanted to send a message was the Mexican drug cartel," Greven said.
Prosecutors said Gudino had connections to the Mexican drug cartel and spent time in prison for trafficking cocaine.
However, Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Zachary Neumann told the jury that the cartel was not behind the triple murder.
Instead, Neumann said Gudino committed the murders because he was angry that his wife left him for another man, and then he allegedly targeted that man's friends.
Neumann also stressed the importance of the testimony from the surviving victim.
"He talked about how his friends were all murdered and how this man (Gudino) put a gun to his head and shot him," Neumann said. "This is not a cartel-related killing. This is a jealous husband."
The jury deliberated for around two hours Thursday. Deliberations will resume Friday morning.
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