Members of a drug trafficking organization plotted and carried out the brutal murder of a North Georgia woman, investigators say. Nine of the fourteen defendants indicted in the case have pleaded guilty. Three others remain at large.
These new revelations and pleas are the latest developments in the two-year-old murder case of Rossana Delgado. The Barrow County taxi driver and mother of two disappeared on April 16, 2021. On that day, the GBI says she was lured to a shopping mall in Dekalb County and kidnapped.
Delgado’s abductors moved her to locations in Dekalb and Clayton counties before taking her to a rental cabin in Gilmer County. The cabin is where investigators say Delgado was tortured and killed.
Associates of the drug trafficking organization dismembered and burned Delgado’s body, according to the Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. On April 20, 2021, Gilmer County deputies found Delgado’s remains while conducting a welfare check at a residence in Cherry Log.
Working with local and federal law enforcement agencies, the GBI identified and arrested multiple suspects. Authorities apprehended three of them in Mexico and extradited them to the United States. Juan Ayala-Rodriguez of Gainesville was among them.
A Gilmer County grand jury indicted the fourteen suspects last year. A trial was set to begin on May 1, but Ayala-Rodriguez and eight others pleaded guilty.
Guilty pleas
The D.A.’s office says the drug trafficking organization the defendants were associated with distributed controlled substances, such as methamphetamine, throughout Georgia. All of them pleaded guilty to racketeering charges.
Oscar Manuel Garcia also pleaded guilty to malice murder, kidnapping, concealing a death, removal of body parts from the scene of death, and aggravated battery.
Ayala-Rodriguez and Juan Antonio Vega pleaded guilty to kidnapping, aggravated battery, and concealing a death.
The judge sentenced Garcia and Ayala-Rodriguez to life in prison and sentenced Vega to serve 30 years.
Megan Alyssa Colone was ordered to serve 18 years, and Eva Galicia Martinez 13 years for violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Terri Amanda Garner, Patrick Harvard, Calvin Harvard, and Shawn Callaway were also sentenced under the RICO Act and ordered to serve time in prison, followed by probation.
“It is my hope, even though this matter remains open, that the resolutions and sentences entered at this time will assist the family and loved ones of Rossana Delgado in beginning to obtain closure,” said Appalachian District Attorney B. Alison Sosebee.
She continued, “I would like to thank all of the law enforcement agencies that were involved in the investigation of this case. This matter not only spanned across numerous local and state jurisdictions but also involved the assistance of the federal government in extraditing defendants from Mexico. The GBI has been exhaustive in its investigation as well as the apprehension of these individuals. Our local and state law enforcement agencies have been invaluable, and I would especially like to thank the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office for their extensive involvement in this matter, as well as the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office and the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance,”
Still at large
Three of the suspects remain at large. Carolina Jazmin Rodriguez Ramirez and Mario Alberto Barbosa-Juarez are both from Oklahoma City. Maria Katherine Encarnacion is from Marietta, investigators say.
Authorities are asking for the public’s help to find them.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to contact the GBI by phone at 1-800-597-8477 or online through the GBI’s website or See Something, Send Something app.
The GBI warns if you see any of these individuals, do not approach them. Call 911 immediately.
