John Jefferson
Left inset: Marlyn Medrano-Ortiz (Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Mijal Conejero-Romera and Diego Alexander Woollett (Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Law enforcement investigate the murder (WUSA).
Just days ago, Tinayia Henderson lamented how someone murdered her friend Mijal Conejero-Romera, 22, as well as Mijal’s boyfriend, Diego Alexander Woollett, 22.
“She didn’t deserve this,” Mijal’s best friend, Tinayia Henderson, said in a Tuesday report from Washington, D.C., CBS affiliate WUSA about the unsolved Aug. 28 murders. “It hurts knowing every day that there’s no answer for her. There’s no answer for Diego.”
But according to deputies in Loudoun County, Virginia, those answers just emerged. On Wednesday, at approximately 6:01 p.m. officers with the Alexandria Police Department recognized local man Marlyn Medrano-Ortiz, 18, on the 4100 block of Mt. Vernon Avenue. They had seen him in a law enforcement bulletin looking for the suspect in the double homicide and arrested him. Not only is he charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, but deputies promise more charges.
Authorities identified Medrano-Ortiz as a member of the gang, MS-13.
“This continues to be an ongoing investigation, and additional charges related to the death of both victims will be forthcoming,” Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman wrote.
More Law&Crime coverage: MS-13 leader convicted in string of senseless murders including teen server left ‘unrecognizable’ after she disparaged gang
Deputies responded to the shooting on Aug. 28 at 4:33 a.m. in a parking lot of an apartment complex in the 21000 block of Ridgetop Circle in the D.C.-area community of Sterling.
“They found two people suffering from gunshot wounds, and both individuals were transported to a local hospital where they were pronounced deceased,” investigators said. “They will not be identified until the next of kin have been notified.”
They soon identified the victims as Conejero-Romera and Woollett.
This set off a monthslong search for whoever was responsible.
“This investigation included numerous patrol units who canvassed over 320 residential units and 30 businesses, along with more than a dozen detectives and members of our Dive, K-9, Drone, and Search and Rescue Units,” Chapman said. “It also included the use of 39 search warrants and the work of our Crime Analysts, and Digital Forensic Examiners who reviewed over 950 hours of video, multiple cell phones and laptops, along with tower dumps, license plate readers, and other analysis.”
Henderson spoke glowingly of Mijal in the Tuesday report.
“Everything she did was for her parents,” she said. “She was very family-oriented.”
Henderson described last hearing from her via text at around 8 p.m. on the night of Aug. 27, which was mere hours before the murder. Mijal was asking how she was doing.
“They seemed so happy,” Henderson said of the relationship between Mijal and Diego. “Her family told me he treated her like a princess.”
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