Edgardo Luis Bermudez-Melendez, a 31-year-old male from West York, Pennsylvania, disappeared on the night of March 13, 2022. He was reported missing the next day after he had last been seen wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts, a black windbreaker jacket, and running sneakers. At the time he vanished, he was believed to have been driving a gray 2014 Mazda 3 with Pennsylvania registration LWC-2762.
For several days, his whereabouts were unknown.
Then, on the morning of March 19, 2022, Pennsylvania State Police responded to the area of Holtwood Road near the Holtwood Bridge in Martic Township, Lancaster County, after a body was found at the bottom of an embankment. The body was identified as Bermudez-Melendez. The Lancaster County Coroner's Office determined that he died from gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Investigators later alleged that Bermudez-Melendez had not been killed where his body was found. According to police and charging documents described in news reports, authorities determined that he was fatally shot in York City on March 13, 2022, at a garage on West Gas Avenue. A witness reportedly told investigators that he entered or approached the garage and heard a loud boom that he believed was a gunshot. The witness then allegedly saw Carlos Omar Rivera-Rivera II with a gun in his hand and Bermudez-Melendez slumped in the trunk area of Rivera-Rivera's vehicle.
The account given to investigators became even more disturbing. Police alleged that Rivera-Rivera later got into the driver's seat and fired more shots toward the trunk area where Bermudez-Melendez was located. Rivera-Rivera was then accused of driving away with Bermudez-Melendez inside the trunk, transporting his body to southern Lancaster County, and pushing it down an embankment along Holtwood Road in Martic Township, where it remained until it was discovered nearly a week later.
Authorities also described a possible motive in the case. According to the criminal complaint, a confidential source told detectives that, one to two months before the killing, there had been a conversation at the home of Rivera-Rivera and his girlfriend about Rivera-Rivera being jumped. Rivera-Rivera allegedly believed Bermudez-Melendez had been involved in setting him up. Investigators used witness statements, surveillance footage, and phone-related evidence as part of the case against Rivera-Rivera.
On August 16, 2022, nearly five months after Bermudez-Melendez was killed, Pennsylvania State Police filed charges against Carlos Omar Rivera-Rivera II, who was 24 at the time. He was charged with criminal homicide, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse. Reports stated that bail was denied. Available reporting describes Rivera-Rivera as the arrested suspect and details the charges filed against him, but the online sources reviewed did not provide a confirmed final trial outcome or conviction.
