Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Three Convicted in Angeles Crest Highway Killing Investigated by Pasadena Police

Two Others Convicted in Related Double Homicide

Three reputed MS-13 gang members were convicted Tuesday, June 2, in the July 22, 2023, robbery and killing of a man at an Angeles Crest Highway lookout in Pasadena Police Department jurisdiction — a case investigated and brought to charges by the Pasadena Police Department’s Robbery/Homicide Unit.

Two additional gang members were convicted in a separate double homicide committed less than 48 hours later with the same firearm.

In all, a Los Angeles County jury deliberated just over a day before returning guilty verdicts against five defendants in the linked cases.

Marco Antonio Hernandez, 21, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, two counts each of second-degree robbery and attempted second-degree robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit a robbery. Hernandez was charged in both the Angeles Crest Highway killing and the later double homicide, and had faced a personal firearm-use allegation along with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a robbery or attempted robbery.

Luis Ventura, 27, and Abraham Ernesto Alvarenga Cortez, 23, were each found guilty of one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit a robbery in the Angeles Crest Highway case.

Alvarenga Cortez had also faced a personal firearm-use allegation and a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery or attempted robbery.

Rossel Jose Hernandez-Ponce, 25, and Wendy Sarai Cerritos, 23 — who were not charged in the Pasadena killing — were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit a robbery in the separate double homicide.

Special circumstance allegations were also found to be true. Ventura faces 25 years to life in state prison, while the other four defendants face life in prison without the possibility of parole. They are scheduled to be sentenced on June 18.

“The victims in this case were simply enjoying some of the most scenic views that Los Angeles County has to offer, hoping to have a peaceful moment with the people they cared about,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement announcing the verdicts. “Little did they know that they were being targeted by gang members looking to rob them — and kill them if necessary — to steal whatever they could find. These were vicious and callous acts, and these guilty verdicts hold those responsible for the brutal crimes they committed.”

The Angeles Crest Highway victim, Jesse Munoz, was sitting in his car with a female friend at a lookout that, while miles outside Pasadena’s contiguous city limits, falls within Pasadena Police Department jurisdiction.

Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams described the location as a “perfect place to come upon unsuspecting victims and rob them,” telling jurors the group acted as a “pack” that outnumbered and robbed the two before Alvarenga Cortez fired at Munoz as the victim tried to back his vehicle out. The vehicle wound up on top of a guardrail, the prosecutor said.

Williams told jurors that Alvarenga Cortez told an undercover operative in jail following his arrest, “I shot him three times.”

“This case is about coordinated violence, purposeful violence and predatory violence,” Williams said during closing arguments. “They hunted together, they robbed together, they killed together.”

In her rebuttal argument, Deputy District Attorney Carmelia Mejia urged jurors to convict, arguing that the victims “should all be on this planet” but that the defendants “stole their lives.”

The three Angeles Crest Highway defendants were tried alongside Hernandez-Ponce and Cerritos because the same firearm used in the Munoz killing was used two days later, on July 24, 2023, in the shooting deaths of Jorge Ramos and Taylor Raven Whittaker inside a parked Subaru in the 7000 block of Palos Verdes Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated the Rancho Palos Verdes killings.

California Highway Patrol officers first came upon the Angeles Crest Highway scene at 3:21 a.m. on July 22, 2023, after discovering what appeared to be a solo vehicle accident at mile marker 28.36. Pasadena Police Department detectives were called in and determined the motive was robbery.

A July 25, 2023, arrest operation in Panorama City involved the U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Region Fugitive Apprehension Task Force, Pasadena Police Department’s Street Crime Unit, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and K9 teams, the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division, and the Los Angeles Police Department Air Support Division. The operation recovered two semi-automatic firearms, including the weapon later confirmed to be used in the Munoz killing. A follow-up arrest and search warrant operation was conducted on August 29, 2023.

Ventura was formally arrested by Pasadena police on July 26, 2023. Murder charges were filed against the three Angeles Crest Highway defendants after Pasadena Police Department Robbery/Homicide Unit detectives met with Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office prosecutors on August 31, 2023.

All five defendants have been identified by Pasadena Police Department as members of the MS-13 gang (Mara Salvatrucha). Pasadena Police Department Lieutenant Keith Gomez served as the public face of the investigation. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office opted not to seek the death penalty.

During the trial, defense attorneys for the Angeles Crest Highway defendants had urged acquittal. Hernandez’s attorney, Damon Hobdy, questioned the murder charge against his client in the Munoz killing, arguing that Hernandez didn’t plan the crime, supply a gun or do anything other than drive the getaway vehicle, and urging the panel to “make your decision based on the evidence.”

Alvarenga Cortez’s attorney, Anthony Arzili, questioned the accounts of two key prosecution witnesses and asked jurors to acquit his client, saying the young man was in the United States without any family and was homeless at the time.

Ventura’s attorney, Simon Aval, said he didn’t know why his client was charged with murder, noting that “my client didn’t shoot anybody” and arguing that prosecutors were “trying to get five murder convictions and stretching the law.”

All defendants have remained in custody since their arrests in the summer of 2023.