On April 25, 2016, Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola, a 24-year-old male Mexican national, traveled to a residence in Webster County, Missouri, under the impression he was collecting a significant drug debt. Martinez-Gaxiola had been involved in a methamphetamine distribution operation that spanned multiple counties in the region. He arrived at a home on Hackberry Lane, situated in the rural area between Fordland and Seymour, accompanied by an associate he believed to be his partner in the illicit
business. Unknown to him, a conspiracy had been hatched to end his life rather than pay the $40,000 owed to him.
The plot was orchestrated by Brooke Danielle Beckley and Yovanny Aroldo Mendivil-Balderama, who were involved in a romantic relationship and sought to eliminate the debt Beckley owed. They enlisted the help of several other individuals, including Anthony Edward Donovan, Nathaniel Austin Lee, and Joshua Applegate, to carry out an ambush. The group prepared for the arrival of the target by practicing with firearms at the residence the day prior. When the vehicle carrying Martinez-Gaxiola pulled into the driveway, the co-conspirators were lying in wait, armed and ready to execute the plan.
As Martinez-Gaxiola exited the vehicle, he was immediately fired upon by the group. He was struck and fell to the ground, incapacitated. Despite being armed with a handgun himself, investigators later determined he never had the chance to fire a single shot. According to court records, Donovan approached the wounded man and delivered a final fatal shot to the head. The group attempted to conceal the body under a sheet of metal as law enforcement, alerted by reports of gunfire, approached the scene. The suspects fled into the surrounding woods but were apprehended by authorities shortly after the incident.
In the legal proceedings that followed, multiple defendants faced severe consequences for their roles in the execution-style slaying. Brooke Beckley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and using a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime resulting in murder, receiving a sentence of 40 years in federal prison without parole. Yovanny Mendivil-Balderama received a 50-year federal prison sentence for his leadership in the conspiracy. Anthony Donovan and Nathaniel Lee also entered guilty pleas related to the murder and drug trafficking charges. Joshua Applegate, who was a teenager at the time, was charged in state court and eventually pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon.
