In the summer of 2019, a 29-year-old Hispanic female named Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez sought a new beginning in Des Moines, Iowa, arriving from her native Honduras with her two young children. Her hope for a better life was tragically cut short on July 16, 2019, when she and her children were found shot to death. Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores, and her 5-year-old son Ever Jose Mejia-Flores, were discovered in the home they shared with Marvin Oswaldo
Escobar-Orellana and his family.
The gruesome discovery was followed by the arrest of Escobar-Orellana, a 31-year-old Guatemalan national who was also known by the name Marvin Esquivel Lopez. Authorities charged him with three counts of first-degree murder. The investigation revealed a volatile living situation. Flores-Rodriguez and her children had been residing with Escobar-Orellana, a self-employed roofer she had met in Honduras, and his family for about five months before the killings.
During the investigation, Escobar-Orellana provided conflicting stories to the police. In one version of events, he claimed that Flores-Rodriguez had killed her children and that he had shot her in self-defense. However, the evidence and witness testimony painted a different picture. Escobar-Orellana’s wife testified that she witnessed her husband shoot Flores-Rodriguez in the head twice following an argument. After shooting Flores-Rodriguez, he then went into the basement where her children were and fatally shot them as well. An autopsy confirmed that Flores-Rodriguez had been shot twice, once in the head from point-blank range, and also had a defensive wound on her hand. Her children had also each been shot twice in the head at close range.
Ultimately, a jury did not believe Escobar-Orellana's account of the events. He was found guilty on all three counts of first-degree murder. It was also revealed that Escobar-Orellana was in the country illegally and had been deported twice before the murders.
