Carlos Cruz-Echevarria, a 60-year-old Hispanic man, was murdered on November 11, 2017, near his Deltona home at Malaga Avenue and Puritan Street while stopping to help a motorist whose vehicle was stuck in a ditch. The vehicle was later determined to have been stolen. Initial impressions suggested a robbery for Cruz-Echevarria’s truck, which was found burned out in South Apopka, but investigators later concluded the killing was a premeditated execution intended to prevent him from testifying in a road rage case.

The road rage incident dated May 2, 2017, involved Kelsey Terrance McFoley, 28, who reportedly had pointed a gun at Cruz-Echevarria. Authorities say McFoley arranged a murder-for-hire and hired 24-year-old Benjamin Jaquaric Antonio Bascom as the triggerman. Bascom’s vehicle became stuck in the ditch that day; when Cruz-Echevarria stopped to assist, Bascom shot him multiple times. Phone records and DNA evidence were cited as linking Bascom to the scene, the stolen vehicle, and to communications with McFoley. McFoley and Bascom have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole; Melissa Rios Roque, 21, alleged to have helped plan and to have been to assist in an escape, is awaiting trial.

Did anyone in Deltona have information about Cruz-Echevarria, his activities that day, or the stolen vehicle that could still help clarify unanswered details?