In the early morning hours of March 13, 2016, in Goshen, Indiana, 27-year-old Jose Nava-Orozco was found shot to death inside a home in the Brookside Manor manufactured home community. Another man, 43-year-old Marco Carmona-Gonzalez, was also found deceased at the scene, the victim of the same violent act. The Goshen Police Department was called to the residence on Ripple Rock Drive around 5:00 a.m. and discovered the bodies of the two men.
Investigators stated that the double homicide did not appear to be a random act.
The investigation, which police believed was motivated by gang violence, quickly led to two suspects: 22-year-old Diego Ramos and 19-year-old Luis Rivas. Within a week of the killings, both men were arrested and each charged with two counts of murder. Evidence gathered by the police included cell phone data showing that Rivas had searched for images of Nava just twenty minutes before the murders. Furthermore, Ramos allegedly informed his mother of Nava's death less than half an hour after the incident, long before the identities of the victims had been publicly released by law enforcement. Ballistic analysis confirmed that shell casings found at the murder scene, in Ramos' vehicle, and at his home were all fired from the same weapon.
Both Ramos and Rivas initially pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. As the case progressed through the legal system, Luis Rivas eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assisting a criminal. In court, he admitted to helping Ramos by burning the clothes worn on the night of the murders and providing false statements to the police. Rivas was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison for assisting a criminal, with an additional six years for a criminal gang enhancement. He later claimed he was threatened by Ramos into participating.
Diego Ramos proceeded to a bench trial. Despite the evidence presented by the prosecution, an Elkhart Circuit Court Judge found Ramos not guilty on both counts of murder, and he was acquitted. Rivas faced additional charges of obstructing justice for refusing to testify against Ramos during his trial. The outcome of the legal proceedings left friends and family of Jose Nava-Orozco with unanswered questions about the motive behind the tragic deaths.
