Arrest made in fatal shooting on I-15; Utah man alleges third-party committed the murder

BLACKFOOT — A Utah man has been charged in connection with the shooting on Interstate 15 in February, which resulted in the death of a 27-year-old man from Venezuela.

Joaquin Jose Mendoza Gonzalez, 37, was charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement.

If convicted, Gonzalez faces up to life in prison.

Night of the shooting

According to court documents, on Feb. 28 at 10:24 p.m., a trooper with the Idaho State Police responded to a call of a white car on I-15 in Bingham County near mile marker 85 north of Fort Hall with its hazards on.

The trooper found a man dead in the driver’s seat with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The trooper said the front windshield also contained several bullet holes. A detective with ISP who later arrived said 9mm casings were found near the driver’s side and toward the front of the vehicle.

The deceased man was identified as Alexander Jose Duran Pirela. Records show Pirela was living in Mapleton, Utah, at the time of his death. He was a Venezuelan working in the United States on a visa.

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The document states when Pirela was found, three phones were found on his person.

On March 3, the phones were analyzed by investigators, which stated the last call was made to Gonzalez. Further investigation also showed there were multiple calls made between Pirela to Gonzalez just before his death.

Twenty-four calls were made on the night of Feb. 28 between Gonzalez and Pirela, as well as seven text messages were sent.

Pirela had sent an image of a car to another person, who asked why Pirela was traveling with Gonzalez. He responded that he was going with Gonzalez to pick up money that was owed to Gonzalez.

The other person then asked why they were traveling in two cars. Pirela said he assumed Gonzalez was going to drop off his car when the money was picked up.

Interview with Gonzalez

On April 2, Gonzalez was interviewed by the ISP detective at the Spanish Fork Police Department in Utah. An FBI language analyst was also present and aided in the interview.

After reading the Gonzalez’s Miranda Rights, he agreed to speak with the detective.

The document states Gonzalez had three cellphones on him. The IMEI of one of the phones (a unique serial number) matched from a search warrant conducted in March of Gonzalez’s phone, which confirmed he was in the location where the shooting had occurred between 9:58 p.m. to 10:02 p.m.

When asked how he knew Pirela, Gonzalez said both worked as grocery delivery drivers and had been in communication for several months.

The document states that both men had discussed moving to Idaho Falls in search of work, and on Feb. 28, Pirela had advised him that he was going north.

Gonzalez said the two had agreed to meet at a gas station in Ogden, Utah, before driving up to Idaho Falls in two separate vehicles.

The document states that security camera footage from a business across the street from a Chevron in Clearfield, Utah, shows two vehicles arriving at a gas station. Pirela’s phone confirmed he was at the gas station at the same time the video was recorded.

Gonzalez told the detective that on the trip to Idaho Falls, he had car issues, which caused the pair to stop around six times.

Due to the car troubles, Gonzalez said he asked Pirela to drive behind him in case of more issues, and according to Gonzalez, the last stop was at the location of the shooting.

Gonzalez claimed he was working on his car’s fuel injection, and Pirela was behind him in his car.

Gonzalez said he heard multiple gunshots and looked up to see a dark-colored vehicle parked next to his car. He said he does not remember seeing anybody inside of the car.

Gonzalez claims that he started to run away when a man he knew, referred to as “El Gocho,” ran up from behind his vehicle and pointed a pistol at his head. The documents give part of name, but refer to the man as Gocho for the rest of the document.

Gocho allegedly told Gonzalez to get into his car, and when he got inside, the dark-colored vehicle was gone.

Witnesses who had spoken with the detective in March reported seeing only two vehicles, and none of them had their hoods up.

“In addition, the camera footage of the location from the time of the homicide, although dark, does not appear to show more than two vehicles pulled off on the side of the road,” the document states.

Gonzalez claims Gocho got inside the vehicle with him and ordered him to drive back to Salt Lake City. Before getting off the interstate, Gocho ejected a bullet from his pistol and gave it to Gonzalez to throw out the window.

The documents state that the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, the Shelley Police Department, and the Fort Hall Police Department responded to the area where Gonzalez allegedly threw the bullet from his vehicle, near exit 89 on I-15.

“Officers were unable to locate the unspent round (Gonzalez) claimed would be there,” the document states.

While driving back to Utah, Gonzalez told the detective that he had given Gocho his phone and saw him delete text messages from it.

When investigators examined Pirela’s phone, they found deleted texts from Pirela to Gonzalez.

Gonzalez said that when he and Gocho arrived in Salt Lake City, he was directed to a specific location.

Gonzalez told the detective he was not sure where he was but assumed he was taking the Gocho to a place where he would be killed. Due to this, he doesn’t remember where he dropped the Gocho, but it was near a railroad track.

The document states since the incident, Gonzalez claims to have been receiving multiple threats.

He claims while at work, multiple Venezuelan men followed him to his work, stared at him and visited his home in Mapleton.

The document states that when told about the witness statements, Gonzalez maintains his original statement of three cars.

“He admitted he was there and that it was his bad for not going to the police to report what had happened,” the document said.

The detective asked how Gocho found them. Gonzalez didn’t have an answer and denied shooting Pirela.

The detective further asked why Pirela had a photo of Gonzalez, sent the photo to other people, telling them that if anything bad happened to him, it was Gonzalez who did it.

Gonzalez said he had no idea, but he again reaffirmed he did not kill him.

Gonzalez is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge James Howard Barrett Jr. or Robert Crowley on June 5 at 8:30 a.m.

Though Gonzalez has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.