Carlos Diaz Cotto, a 44-year-old Hispanic/Latino male from Philadelphia, was killed on November 7, 2007, after police were called to the 400 block of West Spencer Street in the city’s Olney section. Officers found him suffering from a gunshot wound to the back, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The killing was described as happening during a robbery after three masked men entered the location, which some reporting described as a home and other reporting described as a grocery store.
Cotto was reportedly shot after trying to intervene as the robbery unfolded.
For years, the case sat cold. Investigators had little to move on except physical evidence left behind at the scene, including DNA evidence connected to a mask used during the crime. That evidence was submitted into CODIS, the FBI’s national DNA database, but no immediate lead developed. The case remained unresolved for more than a decade, leaving Cotto’s family without an arrest or clear public accountability for his death.
The break came on December 24, 2020, when Philadelphia’s Office of Forensic Science received a CODIS comparison result consistent with the DNA profile of Ryan Keel, who was 40 years old and already in federal custody in connection with an open FBI case. Investigators later obtained a more recent DNA sample from Keel, and on May 4, 2021, that sample was compared with evidence recovered from the murder scene. Authorities said it was a match.
Based on the DNA match and additional evidence, Philadelphia police obtained an arrest warrant for Keel on July 21, 2021. On August 12, 2021, he was formally charged in connection with Cotto’s murder. The charges publicly reported included murder, conspiracy, robbery, violations of the Uniform Firearms Act, and related offenses. Police described the arrest as the result of long-term cold case work by homicide detectives and forensic investigators.
Even after Keel was charged, police indicated that the investigation was not fully closed. Authorities said they had been looking for three suspects involved in the robbery and shooting, and after Keel’s arrest they continued asking anyone with information about the remaining suspects to contact investigators. The available online reporting identified Keel as the arrested suspect but did not publicly identify the other alleged participants by name.
Available online sources did not show a publicly reported conviction, trial outcome, sentence, or punishment for Keel in Cotto’s killing. The public information located described the arrest and charges, but not a final adjudication.
