Inset: Cyle Flores (McLennan County Jail). Background: The house where Flores and three others lured a man to his death in Waco, Texas (Google Maps).
The final member of a quartet in Texas was sentenced for his role in a deceptive social media catfish killing earlier this week.
On Thursday, Cyle Flores, 18, pleaded guilty to one count of murder and was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in state prison.
In 2021, Flores and three of his friends – Jeremiah Marquez, 18, Justin Angel Hernandez, 22, and Edgar Alfonso Castillo, 17 – used Facebook Messenger to lure Israel Martinez, 22, to a residence on Gurley Avenue in Waco, where he was robbed, repeatedly shot, and killed.
The fourth member of the crew finally took the same route as his confederates — foregoing trial by accepting a plea deal offered by the McLennan County District Attorney's Office.
Originally, each defendant was charged with capital murder. One by one, prosecutors accepted lesser murder pleas and, in turn, the defendants also received sentences with parole eligibility.
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"The three juveniles in this case were certified as adults," McLennan County Assistant District Attorneys Kristi DeCluitt and Rebeckah Lawson said in a joint statement provided to Waco-based CBS and Telemundo affiliate KWTX. "They committed, along with one adult defendant, a calculated social media scheme to lure the victim to rob him, and ultimately, take his life. Such violence will not be tolerated in our community, and we will continue seeking justice for victims."
The underlying incident occurred on Sept. 19, 2021, when Martinez was lured to the residence in question under the pretenses that he had been summoned by a woman named "Kaelani Moore."
But while the Facebook Messenger account was linked to that handle and a picture of the purported user, the victim was not communicating with a woman at all. Rather, he was being catfished by Hernandez and the three teenagers, according to the Waco Police Department.
Detectives linked the conversation back to Hernandez's own account, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KWTX. During the conversation, Hernandez — as Moore — told Martinez to send money on a different app to a user named "Kaelani M."
An email address used to set up the fake Moore profile revealed subscriber information for Hernandez, police discovered. Detectives said the Moore account was used to "set up the murder victim."
One of the catfishing messages told Martinez to be on the lookout for a vehicle parked in front of the house, authorities said.
A few minutes past 10 p.m. that night, the victim showed up as requested and was standing outside when he was repeatedly shot by various firearms, shell casings at the scene suggested, according to police. The shots had been fired from the residence itself – the defendants had broken in through a back window. Witnesses said they saw multiple people flee once the last report of gunfire echoed through the suburban street.
After the slaying, the fake account was deleted, authorities said.
Law enforcement believe Hernandez and Marquez were the triggermen that night, but all four defendants faced the same charges.
While the three younger participants in the plot were never eligible for the death penalty — due to being minors at the time — Hernandez could have faced capital punishment but for the plea deal.
In the end, 54th State District Court sentenced Hernandez and Marquez to 35 years in prison and Castillo to 30 years in prison. Flores received the relatively lightest sentence. Each of the men must serve at least half of their sentences before they are eligible for parole.
"Each conviction in this case highlights gun violence will not be tolerated in our community, and our office will continue to target those who do harm, regardless of their age," the prosecutors added.