4th Person Charged In Beating Death Of Minneapolis Man

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A fourth person has been charged in the beating death of a Minneapolis man last spring.

Carlos Macias-Aviles is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one with intent and one without, court documents filed in Hennepin County Thursday show.

Three other people -- Ivan Contreras-Sanchez, Arturo Morales-Ceras and Tomasa Leshae Martinez -- have been charged in connection with the killing.

According to a criminal complaint, family members reported a man -- later identified as Manuel Mandujano -- missing on April 4, 2021. People at an encampment for the unhoused told the family he was killed in a fight with another man.

Mandujano's body was found about three weeks later in Dakota County.

Investigators used cellphone information and surveillance video to identify Contreras-Sanchez as a suspect, and he led police to the other suspects, the complaint states.

According to the complaint, Morales-Ceras and Contreras-Sanchez forcefully brought Mandujano from the encampment to a north Minneapolis home, where several people -- including Macias-Aviles -- allegedly brutally beat him. Contreras-Sanchez allegedly questioned Mandujano "about working the police and being a snitch," the complaint states.

The group allegedly wrapped Mandujano in plastic and put him in the back of a vehicle. At some point during transport, he died, and his body was later dumped in a farming culvert.

According to the complaint, Macias-Aviles admitted to hitting Mandujano "a couple of times" with a metal pole during the beating.