Gang Members Charged In Murder Of Queens Mom Found In Car: Feds

QUEENS, NY — Four gang members stand accused of attacking a Queens mother with a machete then leaving her dead body in the trunk of a car, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Eleven members of La Mara Salvatrucha — the gang also known as MS-13 — face murder, robbery, and drug and weapons charges in an indictment unsealed this week, prosecutors said.

Four of the MS-13 members — Anander Henriquez-Avila, 29, Allan Lopez-Villeda, 23, Jose Sarmiento-Valeriano, 22, and Rigel Yohario Velasquez-Mancia, 21 — stand accused of murdering 31-year-old Nazareth Claure last April, according to federal prosecutors.

The men allegedly assaulted Claure with a machete and baseball bat for several hours on April 11, the Queens District Attorney's said in 2021.

Cops pulled over a car two days later and found Claure's body, federal investigators said.

"[Claure] was wrapped in a plastic bag and placed in the trunk of a car like an object instead of a young mother and human being," said Ricky J. Patel, Homeland Security Acting Special Agent in Charge.

"The savagery and brutality of the crimes committed by some of the individuals named in the indictment is beyond comprehension."

Three people facing federal charges — Onan Garcia-Lopez, 20, David Alberto Orantez-Gonzalez, 24, Carlos Torres-Alfaro, 21 — were arrested this week and arraigned Tuesday, according to the Justice department.

The remaining eight — Billy Ayala-Pineda, 31, Wilian Estiven Sanchez-Perez, 21, Carlos Ramirez-Portillo, 21, Henry Vasquez-Padilla, 26, and those charged with Claure's murder — were already in custody and will be arraigned at a later date, according to the Justice department.

Prosecutors noted the murder indictment is among more than 60 connected to MS-13 that have been filed in the Eastern District of New York since 2010.

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