All of the teens were enrolled in a residential education program called Homestead Job Corps, provided by the US the Department of Labor for economically disadvantaged youth.
According to a police statement, Guardado’s murder was planned two weeks prior to June 28, when he was pronounced missing. He was later found dead in the woods close to the school by his brother.
Four diverse "youths" arrested, confess to hacking boy to death with machete #tcot #diveristy http://t.co/9hmAkpODTD pic.twitter.com/ixtWFZjFVw
— Black Violence (@Thug_Violence) August 20, 2015
Police revealed on Wednesday that three suspects, Kaheem Arbelo (20), Jonathan Lucas (18) and Christian Colon (19), were arrested.
18-year-old Desiray Strickland became the fourth charged on Thursday.
The murder was planned to the smallest detail, as teenagers planned the excavation for their sacrifice and hid the murder weapon in the woods a few days before the act.
As police report states, Jose was lured in the woods where three young criminals “ambushed” him with the machete and told him to stay in the grave.
“The victim made one last attempt to fight off the attackers,” the detective wrote, “at which time, [Arbelo] struck the victim with the machete several more times until the victim’s face caved in.”
Strickland left the murder scene to urinate in the woods but stayed later with Arbelo and had sex near the grave, where their classmate was still breathing.
The police suggested Jose was killed because of a debt to his roommate Arbelo, widely known as a drug dealer at the Homestead, NBC Miami reported.
A fifth suspect will be charged in the coming days.
The teens, who are now being held in Miami-Dade jail, are expected to be charged with second degree murder, however, they can be legally tried as adults and charged with first degree murder, which carries a possible death sentence.
Some of the latest reports have confirmed the students confessed to killing Guardado with a machete.
