A 35-year-old man is going to prison after being accused of killing a man and then trying to extort $165,000 from the victim’s girlfriend, California officials said.
Juan Antonio Martinez of Santa Rosa was car shopping with Deydhy Jordy Silverio-Castro in June of 2022, according to a May 9 news release by the Sonoma County District Attorney.
Toward the end of their shopping trip, Martinez fatally shot Silverio-Castro in the head and took $15,000 from him, prosecutors said.
He eventually buried Silverio-Castro in a shallow grave, officials said.
Then a few days later, he posed as a kidnapper and tried to get Silverio-Castro’s girlfriend to give him $165,000, officials said. She had reported Silverio-Castro missing.
Martinez confessed to investigators and showed them where Silverio-Castro was buried, officials said.
Martinez was sentenced to 20 years-to-life in prison on charges of murder and extortion by posing as a kidnapper, prosecutors said. He pleaded no contest, per the release.
Sonoma County is about an 80-mile drive northwest of San Francisco.
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