Suspect in Double Homicide Case Arrested 11 Years after Initial Investigation
Photo: Gilberto Coria Bustos
25-year old Gilberto Coria Bustos and 24-year old Malaquias Pacheco Flores were killed the night of November 23, 2008 at the Salandini Willa Apartments in Parlier. When reports of shots fired sent Parlier Police to the apartments and the two bodies were found, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene to take over the homicide investigation.
The following day, Tulare County Sheriff’s Office communicated with the FCSO about a call they had received the night of the shooting. A man traveling on a road in Traver, about 20 minutes away from Parlier, reported he had been shot.
He was transported to the hospital for treatment. Fresno County Sheriff’s Office detectives headed to the hospital to interview the man, thinking he may have been involved in the Parlier shooting but the man, 31-year old Jose Zepeda, had checked out of the hospital and was not tracked down for 11 years.
The car Zepeda had been driving when he called for help was searched for forensic evidence. Weeks after the shooting, forensic testing matched blood in Zepeda’s car to blood found at the Parlier crime scene. Call history of a cell phone in the car confirmed Zepeda knew Bustos and Flores. A motive was also determined: drug deal gone bad.
One of the original detectives on the case spends his retired years working cold cases for FCSO. Not long ago, he uncovered Zepeda was arrested in Kern County in January 2019 for arson. The illegal marijuana growing operation Zepeda had going on caught fire. He was convicted and sentenced to probation.
An arrested warrant was granted for the now 42-year old Jose Zepeda and on November 12, 2019, a Fresno County Sheriff’s Office deputy who works with the U.S. Marshall’s Fugitive Task Force arrested Zepeda at a home on Capistrano Court in Bakersfield.
Zepeda was booked at the Fresno County Jail with bail set at $2Million. He could face two counts of murder charges.
Photo from FCSO
