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Fourth Man Sentenced in Brutal Murder of Gage Park Teen

By Alex Parker | August 23, 2013 5:12pm
 Jovanny Martinez, left, and Erick Ortiz, 19, were both found guilty of killing Alex Arellano in 2009. Ortiz was sentenced to 60 years on Friday, Aug. 23, 2013.
Jovanny Martinez, left, and Erick Ortiz, 19, were both found guilty of killing Alex Arellano in 2009. Ortiz was sentenced to 60 years on Friday, Aug. 23, 2013.
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Cook County Sheriff

CHICAGO — A fourth man was sentenced Friday for his role in the murder of a South Side teen who refused to flash a gang sign.

Erick Ortiz, 19, was sentenced to 60 years for the murder of Alex Arellano, 15, who was beaten, burned and shot to death in May 2009.

Prosecutors said that Arellano, 15, was walking with a girlfriend he met on a social networking site in the Gage Park neighborhood in May 2009. The two were on their way to a birthday party when they were allegedly confronted by a group of teens demanding that Arellano throw a gang sign.

When Arellano refused, denying any gang affiliation, the gangbangers beat him with baseball bats, ran him over with a car, shot him in the head and then set him on fire, prosecutors said.

 Alex Arellano was killed in May 2009 at the age of 15.
Alex Arellano was killed in May 2009 at the age of 15.
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Family

"They were flexing their Latin King muscles," said Assistant State's Attorney John Maher in April, recapping in closing arguments how the street gang had "taken over" part of the city. "Essentially, if the Latin Kings don't like your haircut, they ... kill you."

Despite his injuries, Arellano got up and ran to a nearby abandoned house, where Ortiz and the other gang members followed him. Ortiz dragged the teen into a gangway and held him down as another defendant, Jovanny Martinez, 19, shot him in the head.

Arellano's charred body was found the next day, burned beyond recognition, prosecutors said.

Ortiz and Martinez were found guilty in April. Martinez was sentenced to 75 years in June. The two other defendants, Alisa Campos, 26, and Edgar Silva, 22, also plead guilty. Campos was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years. Silva pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years, in exchange for testimony against Martinez and Ortiz.