Left: Carlos Hernandez. Right: Joshua Zuazo (WJBK/YouTube). Inset: Hussein Murray (Instagram).
Two Michigan men convicted of killing a 72-year-old jewelry store owner they tried to rob — while posing as gas workers checking for leaks — are set to die behind bars after receiving a pair of life sentences on Tuesday without the possibility of parole.
"Rarely does the court see this level of depravity, this level of arrogance and greed," blasted Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Yasmine Poles before ordering Carlos Hernandez and Joshua Zuazo to spend the rest of their lives behind bars. "It's a cowardice act," she said about the murder of Hussein Murray, who was beaten to death in his upscale Rochester Hills home near Detroit. "It is pathetic, your actions are absolutely pathetic."
Hernandez and Zuazo were both found guilty in October of first-degree felony murder after prosecutors showed text messages and body camera footage in court, which revealed how they plotted to hit "a big score" at the jeweler's home by posing as local energy workers to gain entry.
"I hope we get enough money to buy a house," the wife of Hernandez allegedly wrote in a text message to him just two days before Murray was beaten to death, according to local NBC affiliate WDIV.
"Our own home," replied Hernandez to his wife's message, per WDIV and prosecutors.
"No rent," the woman, whose identity was not revealed, allegedly said back. "Yes," Hernandez told her. "If what I feel is here, we gonna be good."
"So we can have a nice backyard," the wife allegedly said.
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Hernandez and Zuazo showed up at Murray's residence on successive days, claiming to be workers from Detroit-based DTE Energy, a gas and electric company, checking for gas leaks. On the first day, Murray and his wife, Linda Murray — who was present during his murder — declined to let them inside and the two men left immediately after hearing the wife mention a gun. The next day, Murray agreed to let them look in the basement, which led to Linda Murray being bound with duct tape while Hussein Murray was beaten.
"You couldn't care less about a man's life, in order for you to fulfill a fantasy of the life that you wanted," Judge Poles told Hernandez and Zuazo on Tuesday.
"The white picket fence, the house. His life meant nothing to you," she said. "The idea that there was such a loss of humanity in your actions — you go to his home the evening before, he looks at you eye-to-eye … and he's kind. Most people would not be kind at 10 o'clock in the evening. That doesn't stop you, that just alters your plan to go back the next day. And you go back the next day with the intent to deceive and invade."
Evidence and testimony provided during Hernandez and Zuazo's trial showed how Murray had bruises and cuts on his face, neck, scalp, and body. His jaw was reportedly "broken into multiple pieces," according to the local medical examiner. A bone in Murray's throat was also broken in two places, with his cause of death being listed as neck compression.
"I hope whatever those last words that he said to you, or whatever that last moment that he looked at you, haunts you for the rest of your life," Poles said.
Murray's three adult sons spoke at Hernandez and Zuazo's sentencing, explaining how they "snatched" him away from them and his grandkids.
"[Hernandez and Zuazo] planned a heist that would get them the house of their dreams and the yard they've always longed for," the eldest son said. "My mom and my dad, who came from virtually nothing and worked their whole lives to get the big house and the yard … and [Zuazo and Hernandez] descended upon that house with envious eyes."
The son added, "With one act of trust, based on one act of deceit — planned deceit — the lion that protected my mom was slain."
Body camera footage provided by police shows Murray's wife speaking to officers with her wrists bound after managing to call police that night, after Murray was killed.
"I don't know where he is," Linda Murray tells the officers, per WDIV. "He might be in the basement."
Hernandez and Zuazo had, in fact, left Murray to die in the basement of the couple's home before fleeing in a stolen pickup truck with DTE decals. They demanded jewelry and money from him, with Linda Murray seeing them leave with items from a jewelry box. A prosecutor said Tuesday at the sentencing that a set of weights was "found right next to him that had lots of blood on it."
"The images … certainly can be described as being brutal in nature and not likely to have just been able to have been committed by fists," Poles noted.
Prosecutors said during the trial that Hernandez and his wife, who was never charged, had talked in texts to each other on Oct. 10, 2024, just one day before the murder, about the possibility of things going wrong and what Hernandez should do.
"Remember what I said, If things get sketchy, GTFO," the wife allegedly said, per WDIV. "Promise," Hernandez replied.
"I love you," his wife allegedly texted back.
"I love you too, let me get into work mode," Hernandez said.
"Wear a mask when you get close," his wife allegedly told him.
"I got it on now," Hernandez responded.
"Ok, baby get your head good," the wife allegedly said.
Hernandez and Zuazo both declined to speak at their sentencing.
"You thought you came up with this brilliant plan," Poles told them. "You both said about it in messages. What you didn't realize is every single thing that you did, every little pathetic, cowardice act that you did, led to a trail of evidence that ended up being copious amounts of evidence that led to very quick convictions with two separate juries."
