By Joe Johnson
A drug ring leader has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the murder and dismemberment two years ago of Rossana Delgado, a 37-year- old Bethlehem mother of two.
Edwin Murillo became the 10th person to be sentenced in connection with the killing. A total of 14 defendants were indicted in the case.
Murillo pleaded guilty on Friday, three days before he was set to go on trial. He is already serving a federal sentence for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
In addition to Delgado's murder, he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and violating the state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Authorities said that in 2021 Murillo, who had direct ties to a cartel in Mexico, ran a drug trafficking organization while in state prison.
According to prosecutors in the Appalachian Judicial Circuit, associates of the drug ring conspired to abduct Delgado on April 16, 2021.
“As the head of a drug trafficking organization, the heinous acts committed against Rossana Delgado were done at the direction of Defendant Murillo,” District Attorney B. Alison Sosebee said in a released statement.
Authorities said Delgado was lured to the Plaza Fiesta Shopping Mall in DeKalb County under the false pretenses of a shopping trip, and was subsequently abducted and taken to a county residence where she was bound and moved to other locations in Clayton and Gilmer Counties over several days. Prosecutors said the victim was eventually taken to a rental cabin in the Gilmer County community of Cherry Log, where the drug ring associates tortured and killed Delgado,
then dismembered her body, and burned the remains.
“It is my hope, even though this matter remains open, that the sentence of Edwin Murillo will assist the family and loved ones of Rossana Delgado in obtaining closure,” Sosebee said.