On the morning of March 10, 2023, the body of 35-year-old Domingo Castillo-Reyes of Youngstown, Ohio, was found bound, gagged, and shot in the head in a ditch in Copley. His death was part of a coordinated attack that left two other Youngstown men, 25-year-old Inmer Reyes and 31-year-old Victor Varela-Rodriguez, shot and killed in a wooded area in neighboring Akron about 20 minutes earlier.

Investigators say all four men, who worked as roofers, were kidnapped from their Youngstown home the previous day by two masked gunmen and driven into Summit County. A fourth man, Oscar Meija-Gomez, survived by playing dead and later identified Elias Gudino of Copley Township as one of the shooters. Prosecutors allege a personal motive tied to Gudino’s jealousy over his wife leaving him for a roommate of one of the victims.

Elias Gudino was arrested and indicted on numerous charges, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, and kidnapping, and a jury later returned guilty verdicts on multiple counts.