Winton man to serve two life prison sentences, plus 17 years in double homicide

The wife of a 29-year-old Atwater man wiped tears from her face Thursday and questioned one of her husband’s killers about his brutal death.

“The one thing I’m still wondering is why did you kill him?” the woman asked. “Why was it in such a cruel manner?”

Reyes Garcia Barona was one of two men who were kidnapped, tortured, beaten, shot and stabbed before their bodies were dumped in a car and torched. The bodies of Garcia Barona and his relative, Rudolpho Barona, 32, of Sacramento, were found Oct. 20, 2014, in a burned 2006 Chevrolet Impala in an almond orchard off East Monte Vista Avenue, east of Denair.

Garcia Barona’s wife, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, addressed Heliodoro Silva Arreola, a 39-year-old Winton man convicted of being one of two masterminds behind the double homicide. Her comments came moments before Silva Arreola was ordered to serve two life sentences without parole plus 17 years for his role in the slayings.

Barona’s wife, who also asked not to be identified, said her husband’s death “destroyed” her family. “The thing I don’t understand is how can there be people who are so cruel?” she asked.

Judge Ronald W. Hansen called the evidence against Silva Arreola “overwhelming” before handing down the sentence Thursday in Merced Superior Court. “Mr. Silva will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Hansen said.

Silva Arreola, however, continued to profess his innocence. Speaking through a Spanish-language interpreter, Silva Arreola claimed “law enforcement” is withholding evidence pointing to the real killers.

“I’m sorry for everything you are going through,” he said, looking directly at the wives, who held each other and cried on the front row of the courtroom. “But I did not do this.”

Matt Serratto, the Merced County deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case, brushed off the defendant’s claims, saying the case evidence and testimony from a witness put Silva Arreola at all of the crime scenes and indicate he was “intimately involved” at every stage and “orchestrated” the violence.

“I agree with the judge, the evidence is overwhelming,” Serratto said later. “I think it’s the appropriate sentence for such a horrific, cruel and brutal crime.”

Prosecutors said the victims were kidnapped Oct. 18, 2014, and held in homes in Atwater and Winton for two days, bound with duct tape, before they were taken to the orchard and killed. Prosecutors suspect the slayings were the final result of some type of fallout over money connected to large amounts of marijuana with possible ties to a Mexican drug cartel.

Serratto noted that, as the two victims were being taken from a home in Winton to the orchard, Silva Arreola placed a call to a blocked cellphone somewhere in Mexico. The prosecutor praised the investigation conducted by detectives from the Merced County Sheriff’s Office.

Detective-Sgt. Chuck Hale said he was “extremely pleased” with the sentence.

“However fitting I find the sentence, it’ll never bring the victims back to their families,” Hale said Thursday. “But I hope it helps them to start to find some sort of closure.”

Silva Arreola is the first of six defendants to be sentenced in the case.

Salvador Silva, 25, pleaded guilty Oct. 7 to kidnapping charges. Investigators say he purchased the duct tape used to hold the victims. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 2.

The two suspected killers, Gerardo Alvarez Silva, 27, and Monico Peña, 42, have pleaded not guilty. Alvarez Silva, who is accused of shooting one of the victims, is set to appear Feb. 25 for a preliminary hearing. Peña’s jury trial is set for May 2. He is accused of beating the other victim with a baseball bat.

Salvador Peña Vasquez, a 22-year-old suspected accomplice, and Bernando Rangel, believed to be the “other leader” in the killings, also are set for jury trial on May 2.

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Winton man to serve two life prison sentences, plus 17 years in double homicide."