BAYTOWN, Texas – Three people with ties to a Mexican drug cartel have been arrested and charged in connection with a 2004 slaying.
Santiago Garcia, 21, was shot to death outside a home in the 2000 block of Georgia Street in Baytown on Nov. 15, 2004.
Recommended Videos
Baytown police said the case went cold, but they reopened it in 2011.
Detectives said one of the men in their investigation, Arturo Chavez Jr., 32, was being investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for weapons violations. Investigators began working with several agencies and Daniel Torres Jr., 31, emerged as a suspect.
Torres confessed to taking part in Garcia's killing, police said.
Torres, Chavez, and a third man, Juan Carlos Magana, 29, have all been charged with murder.
Police said all three men have active ties to the Zeta Drug Cartel and were running a human smuggling operation.
"(Smuggled immigrants) were set up in local hotels temporarily for being brought here illegally until their debt was paid to the Zetas," Lt. Eric Freed said.
Garcia's family said the arrest is helping bring them some closure.