Left: Rossana Delgado. Top row: left to right – Oscar Manuel Garcia and Juan Ayala-Rodriguez. Bottom row: left to right – Juan Antonio Vega, Terri Amanda Garner, and Calvin Harvard. (Image of Delgado: Barrow County Sheriff's Office; images of the defendants: District Attorney, Appalachian Judicial Circuit in Georgia)
Nine people have pleaded guilty for their roles in the kidnapping, torture, murder, and dismemberment of a rideshare driver in Georgia, prosecutors said.
Oscar Manuel Garcia, the only one charged with murdering Rossana Delgado, 37, was sentenced to life in prison.
He also took the pleas back on March 9 for charges of concealing the death of another, removal of body parts from the scene of death, aggravated battery, and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Eight others took pleas on April 26.
Juan Ayala-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to kidnapping, concealing the death of another, aggravated battery, and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Juan Antonio Vega pleaded guilty to kidnapping, concealing the death of another, aggravated battery, and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Megan Alyssa Colone, Eva Galicia Martinez, Terri Amanda Garner, Patrick Howard, Calvin Harvard, and Shawn Callaway pleaded guilty to violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
clockwise from top left: Megan Alyssa Colone, Shawn Callaway, Eva Garcia Martinez, and Patrick Harvard. (Images: District Attorney, Appalachian Judicial Circuit)
The criminal cases against three other people remain ongoing:
- Mario Alberto Barbosa-Juarez for malice murder, felony murder, and kidnapping.
- Carolina Jazmin Rodriguez Ramirez for felony murder, kidnapping, and two counts of violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
- Maria Katherine Encarnacion for felony murder, kidnapping, and two counts of violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Left to right: Mario Alberto Barbosa-Juarez, Carolina Jazmin Rodriguez Ramirez, and Maria Katherine Encarnacion (Images: District Attorney, Appalachian Judicial Circuit)
According to prosecutors, associates of a drug trafficking organization conspired to kidnap Delgado, who was described in reports as a mother-of-two and a grandmother.
"The members of this DTO associated together for the common purposes of illegally committing acts of violence and obtaining money and property through the sale of drugs and illegal controlled substances," prosecutors wrote. "The DTO distributed controlled substances, such as methamphetamine, throughout Georgia."
Delgado was lured to the Plaza Fiesta Shopping Mall in DeKalb County under the pretense of a shopping trip. She was taken to a local residence, where she was bound and moved to other locations in Clayton and Gilmer counties over several days. She was taken to a Gilmer County rental cabin, where she was murdered, prosecutors said.
"The reservation was made using a stolen identity," authorities said.
Organization associates tortured her, killed her, dismembered her body, and burned the remains. They hid and destroyed evidence of the murder, authorities said.