Background: Medford police officers respond to an alleged carjacking on August 11, 2021 (Medford Police Department). Inset left: Jennifer Caridad (Sunnyside Police Department). Inset right: Aurelio Escobar (Medford Police Department).
A suspect is accused of killing his girlfriend and then shooting a man while disposing of her vehicle in a sprawling crime spree across the Pacific Northwest.
Aurelio Escobar, 30, faces a multitude of charges, including first-degree murder in the death of 24-year-old Jennifer Caridad. He has also been charged with first-degree assault, first-degree robbery, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and two counts of attempted first-degree robbery, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.
Caridad was last seen on Aug. 8, 2021, according to the regional outlet, which cited her brother as saying she had been in a relationship with Escobar for eight months at the time. The following day, an SUV owned by Caridad's family was found at Berglund Lake in Yakima, Washington.
The vehicle reportedly had bloodstains in it, with authorities also finding clothing and a tarp near the lake. Caridad's partial remains were found near Satus Longhouse Road near Granger, about 35 miles southeast. The King County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that she had been shot in the head.
However, as investigators tell it, the shooting of his girlfriend and dumping of her family's vehicle was only the start of Escobar's crime spree. After Escobar allegedly dumped the SUV by the lake on that August 2021 day, he reportedly targeted a nearby man who was fishing with his daughter.
Investigators believe the suspect demanded the man's truck, threatening him with a gun, and then shot him three times. He then headed further south, allegedly attempting to carjack other vehicles along the way.
"He's basically moving from city to city, and it looks like he's heading south, and he's just committing crime in every city he goes to, and he's forcefully carjacking people at gunpoint and he's willing to shoot people, obviously for their vehicles," then-Yakima Police Captain Jay Seely said, per local CBS affiliate KIMA.
Escobar crossed the Washington state border into Oregon, where officers from several law enforcement agencies were looking for him. "A traffic stop was attempted on the vehicle and the suspect began driving at a high rate of speed in attempts to elude the officers," the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and Medford Police Department said in a joint press release.
Officers were able to stop the vehicle, but a shootout ensued — causing Escobar to be shot and brought to an area hospital. A revolver was recovered at the scene.
Escobar was later listed in stable condition. No officers were struck by gunfire.
The man who was shot while fishing with his daughter survived, Eugene-based ABC affiliate KEZI reported.
The defendant, who prosecutors said was a member of the Nortenos gang, appeared in court in Yakima County on Monday, after being transferred from an Oregon prison. According to the Yakima Herald-Republic, he was already found guilty of unlawfully possessing and using a weapon in the Oregon shooting as well as smuggling drugs into prison in Oregon.