Four students hacked a teenage boy with a machete and buried him alive before two attackers had sex near his shallow grave, police said. The group plotted the gruesome murder of Jose Amaya Guardado for two weeks, digging the grave and hiding the machete in woods near their Florida university campus. Jonathan Lucas, 18, Christian Colon, 19, and Kaheem Arbelo, 20 were arrested and confessed to the crime last week, Miami-Dade police said. A fourth suspect, Desiray Strickland, 18, was arrested and charged on Wednesday. The victim attempted to fight off his attackers but was outnumbered and beaten with the machete until he died, police said. The teenager was then made to lay in the grave where he died and the suspects attempted to burn him to conceal evidence.
Strickland and Arbelo stayed behind and had sex, while Lucas and Colon returned to campus. Guardado's body was discovered three days later by his brothers, who saw feet in a burned area and alerted police. It was believed that the teenager was killed over a debt he owed to Arbelo, a suspected drug dealer. Arbelo, Lucas and Colon confessed to the killings. Arbelo, Lucas and Strickland have been charged with first-degree murder. Colon faces a second-degree murder and conspiracy charges. Arbelo and Lucas are also charged with first degree conspiracy and evidence tampering. Strickland also faces resisting an officer with violence.
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