Jury convicts two men of kidnapping, killing Kansas City teen in 2017 after robbery
Two men were convicted in federal court Friday of kidnapping and killing a Kansas City teen in 2017.
Jonathan Bravo-Lopez, 28, and Juan Osorio, 28, both Mexican citizens residing in Kansas City, were found guilty of conspiring to commit kidnapping and kidnapping resulting in death.
The men plotted with 27-year-old Kansas City man Marco Sosa-Perea to rob 19-year-old Cristian Escutia before the teen’s death, according to prosecutors. Bravo-Lopez, Osorio and Sosa-Perea arranged to meet Escutia outside his residence under the guise of wanting to purchase $300 of marijuana.
After driving to Escutia’s house in northeast Kansas City on April 3, 2017, the men shot the teen in the arm and forced him into their Chrysler Pacifica at gunpoint, prosecutors say. A surveillance system outside a nearby residence captured Escutia’s kidnapping.
The men then drove to the 200 block of Donovan Road in Kansas City, Kansas, before allegedly forcing Escutia out of the vehicle. Escutia was shot three times in the head and left to die on the side of the road.
The three men were indicted in 2018. Sosa-Perea pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping earlier this year.
Osorio faces an additional conviction of possessing a firearm while illegally residing in the U.S. He was found with a semi-automatic pistol during his 2017 arrest.
Bravo-Lopez was also found guilty of illegally re-entering the U.S. after being deported in 2016.
Bravo-Lopez and Osorio are both subject to life sentences without parole. Sentencing hearings for the two men are awaiting scheduling pending pre-sentence investigations by the U.S. Probation Office.