Victor Varela-Rodriguez was a 31-year-old Hispanic/Latino man from Youngstown, Ohio. Originally from Honduras, his life was violently cut short along with two of his roommates in a brutal, execution-style crime.
On the morning of March 10, 2023, a driver in Akron spotted two bodies in a wooded area near Cordova Avenue and Redbush Road. Police identified them as Victor Varela-Rodriguez and 25-year-old Inmer Reyes. Both men were found bound, gagged, and shot in the head. About an hour later, the body of a third man, 35-year-old Domingo Castillo-Reyes, was discovered in a ditch along Wright Road in the nearby community of Copley. He had been killed in the same manner. All three victims were from Youngstown.
The case broke open thanks to a fourth man who survived the ordeal. Earlier that same morning, before the bodies were discovered, Copley police had encountered the man walking along Collier Road.
He initially told them his friends had abandoned him, and officers gave him a ride to a shelter. After the homicides were discovered, police re-interviewed him. He revealed that he, Varela-Rodriguez, Reyes, and Castillo-Reyes had been kidnapped from their Youngstown home by two men. They were driven to Summit County, where all four were shot in the head. The survivor, Oscar-Meija Gomez, was only grazed by the bullet and managed to survive by playing dead until his captors drove away.
Based on the survivor’s testimony, police arrested 58-year-old Elias Gudino of Copley within 24 hours. Prosecutors said Gudino and another unknown, masked man carried out the kidnapping and murders. A grand jury indicted Gudino on 18 counts, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, and kidnapping.
During Gudino’s trial, his defense attorney claimed he was acting under duress from a Mexican drug cartel. But the prosecution portrayed him as the mastermind, and the jury heard powerful testimony from Oscar-Meija Gomez, who identified Gudino in court as one of the gunmen. In October 2024, a Summit County jury found Elias Gudino guilty on all 18 counts.
In December 2024, a judge sentenced Gudino to 23 years to life in prison. Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich said, "Elias Gudino kidnapped and terrorized four men before executing three of them at point-blank range and nearly killing the fourth. His actions have no place in society, and he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison." As of December 2024, the case is considered solved with Gudino’s conviction and sentencing.
