A Summit County jury found a man guilty of three brutal murders that shocked people in two communities.
Elias Gudino was indicted on 18 charges, including aggravated murder, attempted murder and kidnapping.
Gudino was found guilty on the following charges:
- Six Counts of Aggravated Murder with Gun Specifications
- Three Counts of Murder with Gun Specifications
- Two Counts of Attempted Aggravated Murder
- Attempted Murder with a Gun Specification
- Four Counts of Kidnapping with Gun Specifications
- Having Weapons Under Disability
- Tampering with Evidence
“Elias Gudino took the lives of three men. Thank you to the jurors, prosecutors and law enforcement for working to get justice for the victims and their families and holding Elias Gudino accountable for his evil actions,” said Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich.
Gudino will be sentenced on Dec. 18.
The shootings and trial
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.
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.
RELATED: Kidnapping victim who survived shooting testifies in triple murder trial
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."
RELATED: Jury deliberating in triple murder case in which victims were tied up and shot
