Alabama deputies accuse two men in U.S. illegally of murdering three victims found in burned SUV

Authorities in Alabama have made arrests in connection to the case of three people found murdered in a vehicle last summer.

On July 2, 2021, deputies responded to a report about human remains in a burnt-out vehicle in a wooded area, the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office said.

At the scene, deputies discovered the charred remains of three people inside an SUV and later identified the victims as Gabriel Alonzo Rios Jr., 24, Gilberto Munoz Cabrera, 37, and Javier Quintero Gonzalez, 36.

Autopsies on the three victims — all of whom were from the metro Nashville-Hendersonville, Tennessee area — determined at least two were shot before their bodies were burned in the vehicle, according to officials.

During the course of the investigation, detectives traveled between Alabama and Tennessee, conducting multiple interviews and gathering evidence.

On Jan. 27, the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office executed search warrants in Chilton County and arrested Noel Garcia Esquivel, 28, of Montevallo and Abraham Pena Perez, 27, of Alabaster.

The two suspects were both charged with three counts of murder and were being held on $4.5 million bond, or $1.5 million for each count.

The sheriff’s office said Esquival and Perez were in the United States illegally and were allegedly involved in drug trafficking at the time of the murders.

The investigation is ongoing and additional arrests for firearms offenses are expected, officials said.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office at (205) 755-4698.