Trial begins in Sosa murder

EPHRATA — Smiling, Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez walked unescorted into the courtroom Wednesday afternoon, sat down between his attorney and that of his co-defendant, and put in earphones for a translating headset.

As potential jurors filed into the room, however, Tapia Rodriguez’s smile faded, his expression subdued. Throughout the day, he stared down at paperwork, occasionally looking up when potential jurors quickly moved their numbered paddles.

Having spent the last two years in jail, only the beginning of a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the execution-style murder of a Quincy mother, Tapia Rodriguez had lost a considerable amount of weight since he was arrested in early 2017 for the murder of 31-year-old Jill Sundberg.

More than 120 potential jurors were corralled into the courtroom over the last two days, as they were whittled down one by one to the twelve jurors that will decide the fates of Tapia Rodriguez and his co-defendant, Fernando Marcos Gutierrez. Jury selection is expected to conclude Friday. Both defendants face life sentences — a second, in Tapia Rodriguez’ case.

In the midst of a heated national conversation around immigration and crime, the Sundberg case, whose victim was a white mother of four, drew national media attention. Tapia Rodriguez, two co-defendants, and two material witnesses in that case were all in the country illegally.

Now, however, Tapia Rodriguez, 41 and his co-defendant, Fernando Marcos Gutierrez, 26 face similarly heinous charges for the kidnapping and murder of a Hispanic man, Arturo Sosa, as he drove to work. That crime allegedly occurred two weeks before Sundberg’s death.

In mid-2018, Grant County prosecutors charged Tapia Rodriguez with first-degree murder while armed with a firearm, kidnapping and drive-by shooting, second-degree murder while armed with a firearm, first-degree assault while armed with a firearm, first-degree kidnapping-armed with a firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Marcos Gutierrez faces charges of first-degree murder while armed with a firearm, kidnapping and drive-by shooting, second-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping.

In early-December, 2016, 28-year-old Sosa and 33-year-old Jose Rafael Cano Barrientos were driving along state Route 26, on their way to work in Royal City, when they saw a pursuing SUV flash its high beams. Reportedly concerned that something was wrong, Barrientos pulled over.

According to detectives, Tapia Rodriguez and Julio Ceasar Albarran Varona, 28, got out of the SUV while Marcos Gutierrez and one woman remained inside. The two men reportedly pulled Sosa and Barrientos out of the car before, realizing the visibility of the location, they placed them in the backseat of Barrientos’ vehicle. Albarran Varona then got behind the wheel of the victim’s vehicle and drove west, Barrientos told detectives.

As Albarran Varona drove, a struggle broke out. Barrientos reportedly tried to take a gun out Albarron Varona’s hands and was shot in the chest in the process. Tapia Rodriguez allegedly turned his firearm on Sosa, shooting him three times in the head.

Barrientos’ injuries required that he be airlifted out to a trauma center. Sosa died instantly.

Detectives alleged that the kidnapping and murder was spurred by Sosa’s ex-girlfriend, Eustolia Campuzano, 27, who was arrested in connection with the case along with Paula Rodriguez Cuevas in April, 2018. She was reportedly the female passenger in the SUV that followed Sosa and Barrientos.

According to detectives, Campuzano had expressed to Cuevas that Sosa had abused her, and that Cuevas had introduced Campuzano to Tapia Rodriguez, Marcos Gutierrez and Albarran Varona, at the Shady Tree RV Park. That RV Park, where the men lived, is also where Sundberg was abducted before she was murdered.

The next morning, Campuzano was allegedly in the SUV with the three men, remaining in the vehicle as two kidnapped Sosa and Barrientos. Though it was allegedly her complaint that spurred the deadly kidnapping, detectives allege that Gutierrez and Varona decided to threaten Campuzano.

“Gutierrez and Varona then took Campuzano up to Sosa’s vehicle and made her look at Sosa’s body,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a statement. “Varona and Gutierrez allegedly threatened Campuzano, telling her, ‘You talk, and the second person you see is your son.’”

The group then got back into the Yukon, drove to the trailer park near George, and after about 90 minutes drove back to the home in Othello, according to law enforcement.

When the group arrived at the home, Cuevas was reportedly told what had happened. While Cuevas was being consoled by one of the men, that man allegedly held a gun to Cuevas’ head, threatening to kill her if she spoke of the shooting.

After being treated for his critical injuries, Barrientos said that he had been followed by a vehicle the night before the shooting, which he believed was the same one the suspects were in on the morning of the incident. Investigators spoke with several witnesses who were in the area of the shooting who claimed they had seen a similar SUV.

In May 2017 investigators matched DNA found on the exterior front passenger door handle of the victim vehicle to Marcos Gutierrez. The match was made as a result of the Sundberg homicide investigation, as Marcos Gutierrez’s DNA was located on a beer box at the Sundberg murder scene. He reportedly later confirmed his presence at the location. Barrientos did not pick Marcos Gutierrez out of a photo lineup as being involved in the SR-26 shooting, but he did identify Tapia Rodriguez as possibly being the person who followed him the night before the shooting.

In July 2017 a fingerprint that was lifted from the rear passenger side door of the victim’s vehicle was identified as a match to the right middle finger of Tapia Rodriguez.

Prosecutors also point to tire tread as evidence to connect the man to the murder. As a result of the Sundberg homicide investigation, the sheriff’s office impounded a GMC Yukon owned by Tapia Rodriguez, which was used to transport Sundberg to the location where she was shot and killed. Tire tread patterns were found in the snow at the scene of the Sosa homicide that “appeared” to match the tire tread patterns on the Yukon, according to detectives.

In the lead-up to the Sundberg trial, prosecutors offered a plea deal to Albarran Varona: 220 months, a little over 18 years, in prison, in exchange for full cooperation in both the Sundberg and Sosa murder trials. In the former case, Albarran Varona’s testimony was damning, detailing moment by moment how Sundberg was kidnapped, taken to a frozen parking lot off the Old Vantage Highway, and then shot in the back of the head by Tapia Rodriguez.

The state reportedly had no material evidence linking Albarran Varona to the crime scene, which required them to negotiate for his testimony, according to a July 2018 memorandum from prosecutors.

“For his testimony the state is likely giving up 80 to 160 months of confinement for Albarran Varona, as well as some possibility of a life sentence,” prosecutors wrote. “In return the state eliminates the risks of trial and appeal on Albarran Varona, which are not insignificant, gains the ability to pursue a case against someone who would otherwise walk away (Gutierrez), gains additional testimony and assurance on the Sundberg case, which is primarily dependent on the statements of witnesses who are not upstanding citizens to say the least, and gains the opportunity to hold Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez responsible for another murder that he led and was the actual trigger man on.”

Though Sosa was Hispanic, the broader national discussion of immigration and crime dividing the country was not absent in the courtroom this week. County prosecutor Garth Dano, in assessing whether to exclude certain individuals from the jury, spent much of his allotted time asking potential jurors how they felt about immigration, eliciting mixed responses. He also quizzed potential jurors on how safe they felt in their communities, and whether that perception had changed in recent years.

The case is expected to take two to three weeks.

Emry Dinman can be reached via email at edinman@columbiabasinherald.com.