The body of 48-year-old Efrin Victor Evangelista was found near a canal in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 22, 2025, in the vicinity of 36th and Portland Streets. Officers who responded after witnesses directed them to the scene found Evangelista in the early stages of decomposition with evident signs of trauma. Authorities treated the death as a homicide and secured the area.

A witness later reported hearing five to six gunshots in an alley near the canal on September 19 and described seeing a man acting erratically who said he had shot someone and displayed a black firearm. Police used that description and surveillance footage to identify and locate 23-year-old Bryan Flores Barrientos, who was taken into custody on September 23. Barrientos told detectives he had been drinking, went to a dirt area near the canal to practice target shooting, saw Evangelista sleeping, and shot him about eight times; he said he had briefly considered stealing items from Evangelista’s backpack and later hid the handgun at his mother’s apartment.

Barrientos is charged with second-degree murder in Evangelista’s death. Does anyone have information about Evangelista’s movements near 36th and Portland in mid-September 2025?