Juan Carlos Vazquez, 35, of Inman, and Rudis Arnoldo Ventura, 29, of Marietta, Ga., were both sentenced to life in prison without parole for their roles in the Jan. 25, 2009 murders of Hugo Del Carmen Lugo-Hernandez, 24, and Teresa De Jesus Avilla –Martinez, 21. Each person was tortured and shot multiple times inside their home at 3301 Highway 101. Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies after receiving a call for help from a concerned family member.
In court hearings last year, Vazquez pled guilty to two counts of accessory before the fact of murder, accessory before the fact of first-degree burglary and two unrelated drug charges. Ventura pled guilty to first-degree burglary and accessory after the fact of a felony.
Jose Reyes Arevalos, 40, of Greer, received a 45-year prison sentence for accessory before the fact of first-degree burglary and accessory after the fact of a felony.
Edgar Pineda, 28, of Emerson, Ga., received a 15-year prison sentence for accessory after the fact of a felony.
Vazquez initiated the violence when he called Yesenia Cortez Ramirez, 41, of Marietta, Ga., and asked her to come to Spartanburg County to collect a debt. Ramirez recruited five people to help and the violence erupted the moment after the group arrived in Spartanburg County, Solicitor Barry Barnette told Circuit Judge Mark Hayes.
Ramirez received a 50-year prison sentence during a guilty plea that occurred in September. Miguel Lopez, 37, of Emerson, Ga., received a 10-year prison sentence earlier this month after pleading guilty to accessory after the fact of a felony.
Authorities are still searching for two co-defendants (Luis Perez and Jose Del Angel Gomez) who haven’t been arrested yet. Both men are suspected of fleeing the country.