CT woman charged in shooting death of ex-boyfriend found dead in driver’s seat of SUV on Route 7
A woman has been charged with murder in connection with the death of her former boyfriend, who was found shot to death in the driver’s seat of a crashed SUV on Route 7 in Norwalk in February, state police said.
Liliana Mejia, 24, was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with murder and second-degree hindering prosecution in connection with the death of John Gavilanes, who investigators originally thought died in a crash on Route 7 just before Exit 2 in Norwalk in February, according to Connecticut State Police.
On Feb. 4, state troopers responded to the crash around 3:19 a.m. and found Gavilanes unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a Nissan Rogue that was stopped on the shoulder “with both of its front windows blown out and visible damage to its front end and passenger side,” state police said.
Gavilanes was pronounced dead at the scene and was originally thought to have died in the crash until investigators found 13 fired shell casings at the scene.
Investigators learned that Gavilanes had been shot in the head, according to state police.
During what state police called an “extensive investigation,” detectives learned that Gavilanes had a long-standing feud with a man in Norwalk and that Mejia, Gavilanes’ ex-girlfriend, was currently involved with that man, state police said.
Detectives watched video footage from cameras in the area around the time of the crash and saw a gray Nissan Pathfinder park in a nearby parking lot with its lights off and then follow Gavilanes’ SUV when he drove by, according to state police.
The Norwalk Police Department alerted detectives that the man Gavilanes was feuding with had recently been seen driving a gray Pathfinder, state police said.
Detectives looked through Gavilanes’ phone and found a photo of the Pathfinder that showed its registration. It was registered to the man’s sister, and shortly after the homicide, was found at a Nissan dealership in West Haven. Dealership employees said the lease on the Pathfinder had been terminated just three days after Gavilanes was killed, according to state police.
Detectives reviewed surveillance images and videos, cell tower location data, cell phone call records, social media posts and physical evidence and established probable cause that Mejia and the man, who had not been charged as of Thursday, intentionally caused Gavilanes’ death.
A warrant was issued for Mejia and she was taken into custody without incident Wednesday. She was held on a $1 million court-set bond and as wscheduled for arraignment on Thursday in Stamford Superior Court.
Additional arrests are anticipated, according to state police.