Blood Trail in Snow Led Police to Alleged Killer

Editor's note: The victim has been identified as Edgardo Fuentes Rosado, 39, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.

The office issued the following news release on Tuesday:

Court records identified the victim of an Allentown shooting on Feb. 3, 2013, as Sasiain Olivio Hessed. Multiple forms of identification, including a U.S. passport, were found in the Emmaus Avenue, Allentown, apartment where the shooting took place. Those documents identified the victim as Sasiain Olivio Hessed. After talking to family members, law enforcement authorities were informed that the victim’s name is Edgardo Fuentes Rosado.

The Lehigh County District Attorney's office issued the following news release on Monday:

Two Allentown men have been charged with homicide in a Feb. 3, 2013, fatal shooting at an apartment on West Emmaus Avenue in Allentown, near the Salisbury Township border.

Jefran Canales-Tapia, 28, of 831 W. Allen St., Allentown, and Luis Armando Santiago-Nieves, 25, of 2508 Agnes Drive, Apartment 8, Allentown, are charged with homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and robbery in the death of a 33-year-old man. The victim’s identity is being withheld until next of kin can be notified.

The charges were filed after an investigation by Allentown police and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Homicide Task Force. First Assistant District Attorney Steven Luksa said the homicide was the result of a drug-related robbery.

According to police:

Police responded to 2496 W. Emmaus Ave. in Allentown for reports of shots fired inside the apartment building. Police found the victim, who appeared to have multiple gunshot wounds, lying on the kitchen floor of an apartment.

Police followed a blood trail and footprints in the snow from the main entrance to the victim’s apartment to the area of 2508 Agnes Drive. Santiago-Nieves was located inside Apartment 8 at that address and was taken into custody. Canales-Tapia later was taken into custody as a result of a vehicle stop at Fifth and Cleveland streets in Allentown at about 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 3, 2013.

As in every criminal case, the fact that an arrest has occurred or a complaint has been filed is merely an accusation; and the defendants, Jefran Canales-Tapia and Luis Armando Santiago-Nieves, are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.