Isaac Cabrera

Rogelio Isaac Cabrera, a 17-year-old male from Madison, Ohio, was a loving son, brother, and uncle preparing to enter his junior year at Madison High School. Known to his family and friends as Isaac, he was described by his sister, Kayla, as her "rock" and "other half." She remembered him as being wise beyond his years, a role model who was full of love and had a big smile with an even bigger heart. His family said he had been a longtime resident of the Painesville area before moving to Madison four years before his death.

In the early morning hours of Saturday, July 13, 2024, Isaac’s life was cut short. At approximately 12:30 a.m., the Willoughby Police Department received a 911 call reporting a shooting in an alley near 4066 Erie Street in the city’s downtown district. The caller told dispatchers they heard a gunshot and then found a person lying on the ground, unconscious and not breathing. Officers and paramedics arrived and rendered aid, but Isaac died at the scene from gunshot wounds.

The investigation quickly focused on a man Isaac knew well: 23-year-old Fernando Alejo of Painesville. The two were not only friends but had also worked together as roofers and had lived together for the three months leading up to the shooting. Isaac’s sister said her brother looked up to Alejo “like an older brother,” which made the events that followed even more shocking to the family. Later that same day, at around 10 a.m., Alejo was arrested without incident by Indiana State Police, who stopped his gray Toyota as he was traveling on the Indiana Toll Road.

Alejo was extradited to Ohio and charged with murder. He was held without bond at the Lake County Jail. His trial began in the Lake County Court of Common Pleas during the first week of May 2025. During opening statements, the prosecution told the jury that Alejo had picked Isaac up on the evening of July 12, and that was the last time Isaac’s family saw him alive.

On May 13, 2025, a jury found Fernando Alejo guilty of murder, tampering with evidence, and illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor permit premises. The following month, in June 2025, a judge sentenced Alejo to 25 years to life in prison for Isaac Cabrera's death.