A 28-year-old Charlotte man accused of gunning down another man inside a Garner motel room has been captured after a two-week search across North Carolina, from the Triangle to Charlotte to a hog farm in Pitt County. Jose Francisco Banegas-Quintanilla was arrested Friday night and transported to Johnston County, where he now faces murder and other charges in the Oct. 11 killing of 37-year-old Victor Manuel Martinez-Rivera.
Martinez-Rivera, who was from Charlotte, was found dead with gunshot wounds in a second-floor room at the Garner Super 8 Motel, according to the News & Observer. Johnston County deputies responded to the scene and located his body, the paper reported, citing the sheriff's office. Investigators say Banegas-Quintanilla fled in Martinez-Rivera's own vehicle immediately after the shooting.
A Trail That Stretched From Johnston County to Kinston
According to the same report, investigators tracked Banegas-Quintanilla's movements from Johnston County to Charlotte, and then from Charlotte to the Lenoir County city of Kinston. The victim's vehicle, a silver 2016 Toyota RAV4, was later found abandoned in a business parking lot in Kinston, JoCoReport reported.
A warrant for Banegas-Quintanilla's arrest on murder charges was issued Oct. 13, two days after the killing, per court records cited by the outlet. In the weeks that followed, investigators conducted numerous interviews and analyzed surveillance footage in an effort to track him down, the report noted.
Suspect Located in a Trailer on a Hog Farm
That work eventually led detectives to a trailer on a hog farm in Pitt County, where they determined Friday that Banegas-Quintanilla was staying, the same account indicates. Johnston County deputies, the Pitt County Sheriff's Office and the Greenville Police Department then moved in, taking him into custody without incident, according to the report.
An arrest warrant alleges that Banegas-Quintanilla stole Martinez-Rivera's RAV4 and threatened him with a handgun, per the News & Observer's reporting. He is now charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, according to CBS 17, which reported that he is being held in the Johnston County Detention Center without bond.
