Bizarre Rape-Murder Case of Yong Orellana Bonilla Going to Trial

October 16, 2009

Although Yong Orellana Bonilla, 34, from Honduras, was arrested in Kleberg County, Texas in August 2007 and charged with crimes that allegedly occurred on February 5, 1997 in Dunn, North Carolina, his trial on rape and murder charges had been set to begin this week but was continued until December 7, 2009 following motions filed by the defense.  At the time of his capture, U.S. border patrol agents found him walking along railroad tracks near the south Texas town of Sarita, and when he was unable to show evidence that he was in the U.S. legally they suspected that he may have been planning to cross the border into Mexico.

When they arrested him, he was using the alias Yonis Orellana, but his fingerprints turned up in a national database and the agents learned that he was wanted by the Dunn Police Department on murder, kidnapping and sexual offense charges.  Bonilla and another man, Salramon Gonzalez, were accused of tying up, torturing and sexually assaulting two men, Tomas Cabrera and Caudencio Martinez Aguierre in Dunn on February 5, 1997.  Cabrera died at the scene, but Aguierre managed to escape.

Both suspects fled the scene, but Gonzalez was captured in Florida in January 2001 using the alias Juan Miraz and was convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault in May 2002 in connection with the crimes committed against Aguierre.  Bonilla, in the meantime, remained on the lam using the following aliases:  Johnny Bonilla, Johnny Orellana, Yong Orellana, Yony Bonilla, and Yony Orellana.

Police believe that Bonilla and Gonzales had attended a party at an apartment complex on the night of the crimes, and have alleged that they gagged, bound and sodomized their victims with a bottle.  A portion of Bonilla's defense may include arguments that the alleged sexual acts were consensual.

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According to police information, Dunn patrol officers had been called to the apartment complex on North King Street by neighbors who complained of loud music.  However, they found nothing amiss and left.  The crimes in question did not get reported until the following morning, after Aguierre escaped his bindings and called the police.  When officers arrived at the apartment, they found Cabrera lying face down next to a bed, gagged with tissue.  His hands, feet and neck had been bound together with electrical cord.  An autopsy later showed that Cabrera's cause of death was strangulation, and he had suffered a spinal injury that was listed as a contributing factor in his death.

While Gonzalez is serving time for Aguierre's kidnapping and sexual assault, he was found not guilty of the crimes committed against Cabrera.  The not guilty verdict in connection with those crimes may appear as an issue in Bonilla's upcoming trial.

Although the crimes appear to have been sexually motivated, police have not publicly disclosed their official theories about why the crimes were committed.  The official motive will likely come out at Bonilla's trial in December.  If convicted, Bonilla faces life in prison.  A long list of motions is currently pending before the court, including motions to dismiss one of the two sex offense indictments and a motion to sequester the state's witnesses.

Photo Credit: Police File Photo 

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Comments

[jules]

I suppose some shiftless lawyer is going to say he's innocent. When will we learn that letting these people remain in the country as criminals is only encouraging them to commit more crimes. Time to make everyone abide by the law, not just the citizens of our country.