Incarcerated Los Banos man charged with 2015 homicide

A 22-year-old Los Banos man has been charged with murder for the April 2015 killing of a man, allegedly because the victim tried to drop out of a gang, the Los Banos Police Department announced Wednesday.

Reyes James Carrillo, 22, has been charged in the death of Edward Soriano Ortez, police said.

The 43-year-old Ortez was found dead in an alley in the 800 block of E Street in Los Banos on April 24, 2015. He had been shot several times.

Carrillo was informed of the charge Wednesday at the California Correctional Center in Susanville, where he is serving a six-year sentence for a shooting reported in downtown Los Banos two days before Ortez’s slaying, according to a news release.

The homicide charge was the result of a 20-month investigation by the Los Banos Police Department.

“This is the result of some pretty dogged determination from our detectives,” Los Banos police Chief Gary Brizzee said, noting that the department received few leads and tips when the investigation started.

Police say Carrillo knew Ortez and that both had, at one time, belonged to the same street gang.

Brizzee said the investigation revealed that Ortez, whose criminal history includes numerous drug-related arrests and convictions, had dropped out of a gang, and that was a part of Carrillo’s motive.

During the homicide investigation, police interviewed neighbors who reported hearing a loud argument in the E Street alley around 4 a.m. April 24, 2015. About four hours later, a neighborhood resident called police to report finding a deceased male in the alley. Ortez was dead when officers found his body.

Few leads developed as detectives investigated the case, Brizzee said.

In February, detectives knocked on doors and passed out information on the streets in hopes of sparking more tips and leads.

“A lot of digging and hard work by our detectives brought up a number of pieces of evidence and circumstance that show (Carrillo) committed the homicide,” Brizzee said.

The Merced County District Attorney’s Office charged Carrillo with one count of murder, according to Merced court records, which also show a warrant was issued for Carrillo on Monday.

Brizzee said the District Attorney’s Office took some time to review the case thoroughly before filing the charge.

“This wasn’t just a slapped-together case,” Brizzee said. “This was months of investigation and putting pieces of the puzzle together. … I think the result is a good filing of charges regarding (Ortez’s) passing.”

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Incarcerated Los Banos man charged with 2015 homicide."