In a harrowing turn of events that began on a late Saturday night in June 2020, the life of 30-year-old Pedro Fernandez of Pine Hill, New Jersey, was tragically cut short. Witnesses reported seeing Fernandez being forcibly pushed into a black pickup truck on the 1500 block of Pershing Street in Camden just after 11 p.m. on June 27th. This alarming incident triggered a police investigation into a possible kidnapping.
The initial breakthrough in the case came in the early hours of the
following morning, around 1 a.m. on Sunday, June 28th, when police conducted a traffic stop on a truck matching the description of the vehicle used in the abduction. The driver was identified as Rashaan Setzer. Later that same day, the grim discovery of Fernandez's body was made in an alley near the 400 block of Marlton Avenue in Camden. An subsequent investigation revealed he had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation quickly led to an arrest. On June 29, 2020, Michael Branon, 32, of Camden, was charged with first-degree felony murder in connection with Fernandez's death. He was taken into custody and held in the Camden County Jail. For nearly a year, the case continued to be investigated, leading to a second arrest.
Almost exactly a year after the incident, in June 2021, Rashaan Setzer, 29, also from Camden, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. Further investigation and evidence analysis had determined his involvement in the abduction and murder of Fernandez. Setzer was also charged with first-degree felony murder and was detained at the Camden County Jail, awaiting a pretrial detention hearing. Both Branon and Setzer remained incarcerated, awaiting trial for their roles in the death of Pedro Fernandez.
