Suspect in Dadeville dismemberment case was deported by ICE in 2014

The suspect accused of the grisly killing and dismemberment of a mother and son in Dadeville was in the United States without documentation and had previously been deported, according to officials with the U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement.

Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Office arrested José Paulino Pascual-Reyes, 37, in Auburn on Aug. 2 and charged him with three counts of capital murder, two counts of corpse abuse, and one count of kidnapping after a motorist spotted the lone surviving victim the day before. Pascual-Reyes is being held in the Tallapoosa County Jail without bond.

The driver saw the 12-year-old girl on the side of the road. She had escaped from the Dadeville mobile home where she was held captive and assaulted and where her mother and 14-year-old brother were killed days before. Police say the girl, who is not being identified by name, chewed through restraints that tied her to a bed where she was given drugs and alcohol to keep her incapacitated.

A spokesperson for ICE confirmed to a USA TODAY Network reporter on Tuesday that Pascual-Reyes was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Dec. 14, 2014, and removed to Mexico on Dec. 23, 2014.

The spokesperson and local law enforcement officials do not know when or where Pascual-Reyes re-entered the U.S.

ICE placed an immigration detainer on Pascual-Reyes on Aug. 1. If he is to be released from state custody, the detainer asks law enforcement to first notify ICE to take custody of him.

Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jim Abbett said Pascual-Reyes’ immigration status doesn’t affect how his office and prosecutors will proceed with the case.

“That’s immaterial to us at this time,” Abbett said on Monday.

Abbett said the adult victim, Sandra Vasquez Ceja, was dating Pascual-Reyes at the time and that the two were living in the mobile home together with her children.

Ceja and her children came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2017. Ceja, 29, was awaiting a hearing on her claim for asylum. A Facebook page appearing to belong to Ceja lists Michoacán, Mexico, as her hometown.

Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle reporter Craig Shoup contributed reporting for this story.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.

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