Affidavit: Suspects Used Facebook To Lure, Kill Man Buying PlayStation For Brother
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) – A newly released arrest affidavit describes how police found two men charged in the murder of a 20-year-old who was trying to buy a PlayStation 4 through Facebook.
Almost 4 weeks ago, police found Danny Diaz-Delgado, bound and riddled with bullets along the banks of the murky Assunpink Creek in Hamilton Township.
According to the affidavit, 29-year-old Rufus Thompson of Trenton used Facebook Marketplace to trick Diaz into meeting him under the guise of selling a discounted PlayStation 4 and games.
Investigators say on March 23 Thompson and his associate 29-year-old Akmal Alvaranga, lured Diaz to an alley behind the 300 block of South Cook Street in Trenton.
At gunpoint, they ordered Diaz into a garage, robbed him of the $240 he bought for the PlayStation and then took his ATM card to a Chase Bank and withdrew another $700.
The next day Diaz was found by the creek with his hands bound behind his back with a cut electric cord and pink duct tape. He was shot multiple times in the front and back.
The detective in the case looked at Facebook Messenger messages from a phone Diaz used and found correspondence with Thompson, who used the screen name "Ru Hunter."
Using URL and Facebook registration information, they matched the account to Thompson who they say was seen on bank surveillance making ATM withdraws from Diaz's account on the night the 20-year-old disappeared.
After obtaining a search warrant police found pink tape and a TV with the cord cut off in the basement apartment where Thompson lived.
In the affidavit, an unnamed witness helped police link Thompson to Akmal Alvaranga who lived at South Cook Street where Diaz was allegedly abducted.
Both men are charged with murder, kidnapping and armed robbery.
The affidavit says Alvaranga confessed to the crimes.
Christian Hernandez, who says he was one of the victim's best friends, says that Diaz was buying the PlayStation to give as a gift to his younger brother.
"What they did to him nobody deserves, not even them honestly. So I just hope they stay in prison for the rest of their lives and they think about what they have done," says Hernandez.