Five men arrested in connection with murder-for-hire plot in San Bernardino

By Rob McMillan

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    SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) — Five men were arrested in connection with a murder-for-hire plot in San Bernardino involving the wife of one of the suspects, resulting in her death.

Yesenia Torres, known by her friends as Jessica, was shot to death on Jan. 10 in the parking lot of Burger Point on west Mill Street.

Surveillance video showed the victim walking out of the restaurant to her car; then being approached by a gunman who chased her around the car before opening fire.

Authorities said it initially looked like a robbery, but further investigation revealed it was a calculated murder plot.

“These criminals targeted this victim, in a murder-for-hire scheme that was stemming from a contentious divorce,” said San Bernardino police chief Darren Goodman.

Detective Dominic Martinez said eyewitnesses identified the license plate of the suspect vehicle, which was found abandoned in a Walmart parking lot in the east end of the city.

“The suspects then got into a second vehicle, which was located at another business,” said Martinez. “There, we saw that the suspects had changed their clothing and went inside a business for a short amount of time, and got in the second vehicle and fled the area.

Police said the plot was motivated by an ongoing dispute during the divorce over the division of multi-million-dollar assets.

“Jessica was a businesswoman in our community,” said Goodman. “She was well known and well respected in our community; she was very civically engaged and supported numerous endeavors throughout our city.”

Martinez said they identified two primary suspects within four hours.

The alleged shooter was identified as Gerardo Llamas-Torres, 31, and the alleged getaway driver was identified as Arnoldo Ruelas, 54.

They were arrested on Jan. 16 after various agencies, including SBPD SWAT, executed multiple search warrants in Los Angeles and Bakersfield.

Authorities recovered evidence linking both suspects to the murder, including a large sum of money.

Detectives said further evidence indicated that Ruelas’ brother, Reynaldo Ruelas, 37, worked at a property owned by the victim and her estranged husband, identified as Sergio Reveles, 53.

Reynaldo served as an intermediary between Reveles and his business partner Juan Perez, 42. Reveles and Perez were taken into custody on Feb. 6. Investigators seized over $286,000 in cash and multiple firearms at the time of their arrest.

Details about how the murder-for-hire scheme was executed were not immediately available, but police said that it had been planned for more than a year.

All five suspects are charged with murder, as well as special circumstances for robbery, financial gain and lying-in-wait.

All defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges at arraignment and are being held without bail.

They are all scheduled to appear for a pre-preliminary hearing in court on March 14.

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