Teen Gets 40 Years For MS-13 Stabbing In Gaithersburg Park

GAITHERSBURG, MD — A teenager involved with MS-13 was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the gruesome 2016 murder of another teen in Malcom King Park in Gaithersburg.

Juan Gutierrez-Vasquez, 17, of Gaithersburg was one of four gang members accused of the stabbing death. Prosecutors said Gutierrez-Vasquez stabbed Christain Villagran-Morales, 18, over 150 times in the park in June 2016.

Police said Gutierrez-Vasquez and another suspect told detectives they believed Villagran-Morales was a member of a rival gang.

According to NBC Washington, Gutierrez-Vasquez's defense said MS-13 gang members threatened to kill the then 16-year-old if he didn't partake in the stabbing.

"This is an important case to set a very strong message out to the public that these gang members cannot recruit young people to do their bidding," Ramon Korionoff, the spokesperson for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office, said.

Montgomery County Police arrested four other suspects in connection to the murder:

• Vanesa Alvarado, 20, of Lakeworth Drive in Gaithersburg – arrested on July 1, 2016
• Oscar Ernesto Delgado-Perez, of an unconfirmed address – arrested on September 7, 2016
• Josue Fermin Caudra-Quintanilla, age 18, of Hyattsville, – arrested on February 3, 2017
• Jose Coreas Ventura, of an unconfirmed address – arrested on March 28, 2017

Alvarado allegedly lured Villagran-Morales to the park by promising to have sex with him, police said. Once he arrived, gang members asked him to go into the woods with them to smoke marijuana, where he was killed. Alvarado was sentenced to 40 years in prison in May.

Villagran-Morales was from New Jersey and was working as a landscaper in the area while he lived with some cousins. He was not a member of the local gang, Capt. Darren Francke, director of the Major Crimes Division of the Montgomery County Police Department, said.

His senseless death came about after "he got involved with the wrong young lady," Francke said. The gang decided to "assassinate" Villagran Morales. Police wouldn't elaborate on why he was targeted.

"This young man was a hard-working young man, came down here for a job, really did nothing wrong, just made some poor decisions about the people that he was associating with," Francke said.

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