5 people arrested for alleged involvement in 'calculated' murder-for-hire plot amid divorce

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (TCN) -- Police announced the arrests of five people who allegedly participated in a murder-for-hire plot amid a "contentious divorce" between the victim and one of the suspects.

The investigation began Jan. 10 just before noon when San Bernardino Police Department officers received a call about a shooting on the 400 block of West Mill Street. When officers arrived, they found Yesenia Torres deceased from apparent gunshot wounds. Police first believed her death could have been part of a robbery, but investigators learned she was killed in an alleged "calculated murder plot."

Surveillance footage shared by the San Bernardino Police Department at a press conference Tuesday showed Torres walking to her Mercedes SUV in a parking lot outside of a business. When she opened her door, another car drove up and a masked man got out. The man and Torres had a conversation, then he pulled out a gun and began chasing her around her car and firing at her. Torres fought back, but she was ultimately struck as she tried running inside for safety. Paramedics pronounced her deceased at the scene.

A bystander in the parking lot shared the suspect’s license plate information, and the vehicle was later found abandoned at a Walmart. The suspects changed clothes and swapped cars, but within hours, police identified the alleged shooter as 31-year-old Gerardo Llamas-Torres and the getaway driver as 54-year-old Arnoldo Ruelas. Evidence inside the vehicle also led investigators to additional suspects.

San Bernardino Police investigators conducted surveillance in Los Angeles and Bakersfield, and the two men were arrested on Jan. 16. Officials found large sums of money and other evidence allegedly linking them to the crime.

According to the police department, detectives "uncovered a deeper conspiracy" and learned that Ruelas' younger brother, Reynaldo Ruelas, allegedly served as the middle man between Ruelas and Llamas-Torres and Torres' estranged husband, Sergio Reveles. Reveles' business partner, Juan Perez, was also allegedly involved in the plot.

Det. Dominick Martinez said at the press conference that detectives uncovered money and firearms at each suspect’s home, adding there is an "overwhelming amount of evidence that this is a murder-for-hire case." Police ultimately seized 16 firearms, including semiautomatic rifles, and over $250,000 in cash.

Torres and Reveles had reportedly been in the process of a divorce for about two years. The couple owned several businesses in different counties across Southern California and had millions of dollars in assets. Martinez alleged the suspects stalked Torres for several months leading up to the fatal encounter. Their divorce had not been finalized by the time she was killed.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office charged all five suspects with murder, including special circumstances of robbery, financial gain, and lying in wait. They have all pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail.

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