Carlos Pardo Espericueta Obituary, Death; – More details are now known about a teen who was arrested last month after a Laveen home invasion, thanks to court documents. Michael Valles, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 28-year-old Carlos Pardo Espericueta.
Valles was one of four men alleged to have forced a homeowner into his house Dec. 16 while armed with at least two handguns, according to court records. During the armed home invasion, Espericueta, one of the four suspects, was shot in a scuffle and died about a week later in the hospital.
According to court documents, the homeowner claimed that after arriving home from work and parking his car in the driveway, the four men exited from a silver sedan and forced him into his house by pointing a gun to his back. The homeowner’s Ring camera footage missed a chunk of the incident after one of the men tampered with the camera. Footage resumed after Phoenix police arrived, court documents say.
Police found Espericueta shot in the chest and the leg next to the passenger side of the silver sedan, which was later identified as a Honda Accord.
Neither the homeowner nor anyone else inside the home was seriously injured, Phoenix police confirmed. Investigators went to the home of the vehicle’s owner to determine whether or not it had been stolen.
The owner of the vehicle and her daughter grew silent when asked by police about the vehicle, court documents say. The newer model Honda Accord required a key fob to be present to start the vehicle, which the owner initially stated had two key fobs. The woman later stated that the car only had one key fob and that she had been the sole person in possession of it.
The woman’s house had a Ring camera positioned toward the porch and driveway that would have potentially captured footage of a car theft, but when she was asked to provide the footage, the woman initially declined, saying that she was unable to locate her cell phone that would have the footage, according to court documents.
Police then obtained a warrant for the footage which showed a man who the vehicle owner identified as Valles, her daughter’s boyfriend, leaving her house in the Honda Accord. A short time later, the same vehicle was then seen parked outside the location of the home invasion on footage from the homeowner’s Ring camera.
Other evidence linking Valles to the crime included a cell phone purchased by his girlfriend’s mother for him that was left in the vehicle, footage of Valles wearing the same clothing as the driver of the Honda Accord and footage of him returning home shortly after the home invasion, court documents say.
Officials declared Espericueta’s death a homicide. The other two suspects have not yet been named. Though it remains unclear whether Valles was the one who discharged the bullet that killed Espericueta, according to Arizona law, courts can still move forward with murder charges.
