Man identified in video-recorded homicide, deputies say

A man whose death was allegedly recorded on a cellphone by the suspected killers was identified Wednesday as a 36-year-old Atwater resident.

Carlos Humberto Herrera was killed sometime on or around Sept. 5, the Merced County Coroner’s Office reported.

Herrera was beaten during a fight, tied to a chair, stabbed and later rolled into a rug and taken to a remote orchard near Snelling where his body was burned, according to the Merced County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies said evidence of a homicide was found in a home connected to the victim and suspects in the 4000 block of San Joaquin Court.

Investigators have said it remains unclear whether he was still alive when his body was set on fire.

A formal cause of death has not been released publicly.

Three men, described by deputies as roommates of the victim, were charged in connection with the death. Dionicio Gutierrez-Salazar, 36, Francisco Alvarez, 24, and Alexis Eduardo Garcia-Jimenez, 19, are expected to be arraigned Thursday before Judge Ronald W. Hansen in Merced Superior Court.

Herrera’s death came to light Sept. 8 when a woman went to the Merced Police Department after one of the suspects showed her a cellphone video of the victim’s slaying.

Sgt. Delray Shelton on Wednesday said investigators could not comment on whether that video was found in any of the evidence seized by deputies. Cellphones were among the evidence.

All three defendants remained in custody without bail Wednesday at the John Latorraca Correctional Facility.

Deputies have said Gutierrez-Salazar is also a suspect in the the 2013 death of Ramon Jimenez, a 71-year-old Ballico man. Gutierrez-Salazar had not been formally charged in connection with that case as of Wednesday.

Rogallano Gonzalez Munoz, a suspected gunman in Jimenez’s death, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for a jury trial in December in Merced Superior Court.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Man identified in video-recorded homicide, deputies say."