I originally posted about the shooting murder of Jesus Silva here. He was shot to death in New Britain, Connecticut, after responding to a craigslist ad for a car he was selling. Jesus Sierra, Joel Jaquez, and Idaliz Zavala-Burgos have been charged with his murder. Before I said that I did not have any information on the motive for the murder, but now new warrants have been released that allege what the motive was.
Investigators believe that Silva was involved in the drug trade and was ordered to be executed after he allegedly came up short with the money he owed his supplier. So far, it is unknown if the supplier is going to be charged. Silva was also said to have brokered car sales frequently, and it appears that his assailants used that information to lure him to his death.
Murders have been solicited for on craigslist many times before, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a victim of a contact killing being lured to his death through the online classifieds site. It seems that criminals of all forms have some kind of use for craigslist.
UPDATE 9/28/2017: Hector Cardona-Diaz was convicted of orchestrating the hit against Silva.
UPDATE 3/5/2021: Joel Jaquez has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 