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A jury Wednesday found a defendant guilty of murdering a man in a Millcreek-area apartment in 2015.
After a two-day trial, jurors found Francisco Ricky Garcia, 35, guilty of first-degree aggravated robbery and murder. He is the second of four people to be convicted in the death of 32-year-old Gildardo Toledo.
The other three accused in the murder – Alisha Hope Moore, 30, Sarah Marlen Ortiz, 26, and Richard Lawrence Trujillo, 28 – were also charged in separate cases in 3rd District Court.
After not hearing from him for several days, Toledo's family members went to the apartment at 875 West Meadowbrook Expressway to check on him. They found him dead of a single gunshot wound and called police.
Neighbors told police they heard gunshots at about 4 a.m. on May 25 and saw the backdoor of the apartment was open for four days.
Prosecutors say Trujillo fired the fatal shot from a .45-caliber handgun after an apparent robbery gone wrong.
Toledo was killed while staying in the apartment of the woman with whom he had a child while the woman and child were out of town.
Investigators said Toledo and Moore were together at the apartment before she left to meet Garcia at a hotel. Garcia told authorities Moore joined him and said she wanted to rob Toledo.
The plan was for Moore and Ortiz to rejoin Toledo at the apartment, where Ortiz would unlock the backdoor for the two men to enter and the group would rob Toledo of money and drugs, according to charging documents.
Upon entering, Trujillo cocked a .45-caliber handgun and pointed it at Toledo, who reached for his own gun, the documents state. Garcia threw a glass bottle at Toledo before authorities say Trujillo shot and killed Toledo.
The group then fled in a car and hid the gun in bushes, prosecutors allege.
Trujillo's case is set for a four-day jury trial to begin later this month. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree charges of murder and aggravated robbery and second-degree charges of obstructing justice and gun possession or use by a restricted person.
Ortiz is charged with three felony counts in the case, including murder, obstructing justice and aggravated robbery. Prosecutors asked that her case move forward after Garcia's and Trujillo's had taken place. Ortiz has a change of plea hearing scheduled for April 14.
In a plea agreement, Moore pleaded guilty in December to first-degree manslaughter and robbery charges. She has yet to be sentenced.
Garcia's sentencing is scheduled for April 28.
Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson