Virginia
MS-13 gang member found guilty of several murders in Northern Virginia
MS-13 gang member accused of killing at least 5 people in Northern Virginia found guilty
An MS-13 gang member has been found guilty of killing multiple people in Northern Virginia following a two-week trial in federal court. Jurors returned their verdict in less than four hours on Monday, finding Elmer Alas Candray guilty on 14 counts, including the murders of five people in Fairfax County from 2018 to 2022.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. – An MS-13 gang member has been found guilty of killing multiple people in Northern Virginia following a two-week trial in federal court.
Jurors returned their verdict in less than four hours on Monday, finding Elmer Alas Candray guilty on 14 counts, including the murders of five people in Fairfax County from 2018 to 2022.
Closing arguments began Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Alexandria and jurors were given the case just before 1 p.m., returning with unanimous guilty verdicts around 4 p.m.
Candray, 27, is originally from El Salvador. Several parts of this trial were conducted in Spanish and translated.
Federal court documents describe the gruesome killings which included stabbings, shootings, limbs being cut off and discarded or buried.
Trial underway for alleged MS-13 gang member accused in 6 murders across Fairfax County
The victims range in age from a 19-year-old waitress in Fairfax shot sixteen times in the face after making a social media video disparaging MS-13 to a 42-year-old fellow gang member. Five victims were in Northern Virginia, one was in Massachusetts.
Elmer Alas Candray, 27, of El Salvador. Photo via Rappahannock Regional Jail
FOX 5 covered one of the deaths extensively — 24-year-old Jose Guillen Mejia, a father whose body was found in 2019 in the woods off a walking trail in Reston.
At the time, Fairfax County police did not believe his death was gang-related. But according to prosecutors, Mejia was simply the first person that Candray and his associates saw in the woods, in an area they considered their turf, so they shot him multiple times and killed him.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 30, 2025.
U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia sent FOX 5 the following statement:
“This case is a stark reminder of the violence and disregard for human life inherent in MS-13’s criminal enterprise. Their deadly activities, from flooding our streets with dangerous narcotics to the brutal murders by which they attempt to impose their presence, will not go unchecked. Their crimes will be met with the full attention and resources of this office and our law enforcement partners.”