MS-13 member pleads guilty for role in 2016 kidnapping death of Virginia teen

Federal prosecutors in Virginia said a member of the international gang La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, pleaded guilty to his role in the 2016 kidnapping and death of a teen boy in Alexandria.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said that Edwin Orellana Caballero faces a minimum of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to maiming in aid of racketeering activity last week.

Prosecutors said that Caballero was just 16 when he joined other members from the Park View Locos Salvatrucha, a local “clique” of MS-13 gangsters, in abducting and killing the boy in September 2016.

The clique lured the 14-year-old victim to a wooded area in Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in Fairfax County and then killed the boy with knives, machetes and a pickaxe.

Prosecutors said Caballero struck the teen multiple times with a pickaxe and then helped the gang bury him in a shallow grave.

The attorney’s office said 17 suspects have been charged in the teen’s death. So far, 10 defendants have taken guilty pleas and five were convicted during trial.