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9:25 p.m. • 5-23-13

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Published: 2013-01-16 10:00:00
Updated: 2013-01-23 15:31:41

Woman faces weapons charge in double homicide probe


Gemby Estrada, weapons possession
Gemby Estrada, weapons possession
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Wake County deputies have charged an 18-year-old woman with possession of an assault rifle that investigators believe was used in a double homicide.

Gemby Itzamar Estrada, no address available, was arrested Sunday and charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction and resisting a public officer. She was being held Tuesday in the Wake County jail under a $10,500 bond.

An arrest warrant states that deputies seized the weapon, a variation of an AK-47, from Estrada's Raleigh apartment so they could determine if it was linked to "a double homicide and shooting."

She also gave "false information" to investigators about her knowledge of the weapon, a second arrest warrant states.

The Wake County Sheriff's Office is investigating the Jan. 5 shooting deaths of Jose Samual Flores Mendoza and his wife, Maria Saravia Mendoza, both 34, at their 708 Colonial Drive home near Garner.

Investigators declined to say whether the Garner case is the double homicide referenced in the warrant, but WRAL News knows of no other similar cases that the sheriff's office is investigating.

"She has nothing to do with it," a girl who identified herself as Estrada's sister said Thursday. "She didn't even know what happened."

The girl said authorities found the gun under a bed in her sister's apartment but that it does not belong to her sister. Estrada lied, she said, because she was scared, the sister said.

The Wake County Sheriff's Office hasn't released many details about the Mendozas' deaths, including a possible motive for the crime or any information about a possible suspect.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Estrada – under the name Itzamar Estrada Gembe – while agents try to determine if she is in the country illegally.


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If the gun is suspected to be used in the double homicide then why is her bail set so low? She only has to come up with $1,500 to get out of jail. Makes no sense to me. If she is here illegally she could just pay bond, get out and disappear into the vast network of illegal immigrants. I would think that her bail would be set much higher. She may not have pulled the trigger but if the assault rifle is the one used than she knows who did. No excuse for aiding and abetting. Shame so many young people do not know the value of a human life. Sad times in the USA...

"...... I'm thinking it belongs to the person who actually pulled the trigger, but they collaborated with her to hide it."

Sorry, but to me that makes her just as guilty as the shooter!

The victims family should sue the obama administration for refusing to enforce the immigration laws that they swore to uphold. This family would still be alive.apocalyptoconquistador

We don't know if they were legal now do we?

Well at least she'll be well documented now.

In one of my possible scenarios apocalyptoconquistador, the many extended family of and the victims are undocumented from El Salvador, and were killed in a home invasion with their own weapon by an American co-worker who gave the AK to the girl to hide... Very speculative!! Time will tell.

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