Virginia
MS-13 leader on trial for gruesome murders in Virginia, including young waitress who was shot 16 times
An MS-13 leader is on trial in Virginia for his role in a half-dozen gruesome murders over the last five years, including one in which he and his gang shot a young waitress in the face so many times that her corpse was unrecognizable.
Federal prosecutors say Elmer Alas Candray, a 27-year-old native of El Salvador, became one of the busiest killers in Virginia as he rose through the ranks of the savage gang, which is known for its horrific violence, according to the Washington Post.
But now, he’s facing the music in federal court in Alexandria, where he’s accused of murder, racketeering conspiracy and firearms charges stemming from the six killings, which left five corpses in ritzy Fairfax County, Virginia, and another in Massachusetts, the outlet said.
Prosecutors say the murder case — which would imprison Alas Candray for life if he’s convicted — is the biggest they’ve taken to trial in several years.
Ironically, it could be his own people that do him in.
Of the eight other gang members indicted last year for the slayings, seven pleaded guilty — and five plan to testify against Alas Candray, the one person who allegedly participated in all six killings between 2018 and 2022, the outlet said.
In court, Assistant US Attorney Megan Braun listed the case details while photos of the victims’ brutalized bodies flashed across the TV screens.
In one case, Alas Candray’s crew got angry that people were drinking, smoking and selling drugs in a small patch of woods behind a shopping center about 10 minutes east of Dulles International Airport, which they considered their turf.
The nefarious activity was bringing cops around — so one night in 2019, they sent a message by killing the first person they saw in those woods: 24-year-old Jose Guillen Mejia.
The gangbangers left his bullet-riddled body laying amid a cluster of beer bottles and bullet casings, one detective testified.
The following year, Alas Candray and three others lured Iris Ponce Garcia, a 19-year-old waitress who’d smack-talked MS-13 in a social media video, into the same woods and murdered her.
“They shot Iris 16 times, primarily in the face, leaving her unrecognizable,” Braun told the court.
They killed Rene Pineda Sanchez, 27, two years later in the same place, simply because he hung out in those woods, the Washington Post said.
Gang members beat the man so badly that a medical examiner said he looked like the victim of a car wreck, with ruptured internal organs and a crushed skull that they caved in with a rock.
And in 2022 they clipped one of their own, beating 42-year-old Francisco Avelar Rivera (known as “Papalito”) to death with a baseball bat and stabbing him several times in Seneca Regional Park in Great Falls, Braun added.
The man was known as a heavy drinker who’d inflate his rank within the gang, she said.
That was enough.
“They cut off his head. They cut off his hands. They cut off his arms. They cut off his legs,” Braun said.
“They buried Papalito’s remains in the woods, where they were undiscovered for more than a year.”
The details track considering the gang’s reputation for nearly unrivaled brutality, in which its thousands of members often rely on guns and machete to do their bloody dealings.
Alas Candray has also been accused of participating in the 2021 gangland assassination of rival Santos Antonio Trejo Lemus, as well as the 2018 killing of Kevin Abarca-Choto, 18, in New Bedford, Mass., over unpaid debts, the Washington Post said.
Despite this, Andrew Stewart, Alas Candray’s defense attorney, said prosecutors don’t have the evidence they need to convict him of the crimes.
“These gruesome photos don’t show that Mr. Alas Candray is guilty of these offenses,” Stewart said in his opening statement this week.
He also claimed the five flipped gang members are only trying to shift blame “to serve their own self-interest,” the outlet added.
Meanwhile, prosecutors say they found a kill list — which included Pineda Sanchez’s name — on Alas Candray’s phone.
They also picked up a handgun linked to the shootings when they raided his Manassas, Virginia home — as well as two revolvers, two machetes, a baseball bat, knives and ammunition, Braun said.
MS-13 has thousands of members in El Salvador, where its movements are directed from leaders inside the nation’s prisons, the outlet said.
Although authorities in northern Virginia have convicted dozens of alleged gangbangers for killings, drug deals and human trafficking, their presence in the Capitol region persists.
Alas Candray’s trial will likely last several weeks.
Virginia
Cops desperately search for Virginia girl who went missing with convicted sex offender — after he got sweetheart plea deal
Police are desperately hunting for a missing teenage girl who is believed to be travelling with a convicted sex offender more than 20 years her senior, according to reports.
Autumn Van Zandt, 17, hasn’t been seen since Tuesday when she was spotted in Fredericksburg with 39-year-old Ronnie Keene Reel, and police suspect they may try to travel out of state.
Van Zandt is believed to be “missing under voluntary circumstances,” police said, but her young age and suspected company have left family terrified.
The age of consent in Virginia is 18.
Reel has a terrifying history of sexual violence — he confessed to sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in 2021.
But he was cut loose on a plea deal after prosecutors with Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s office failed to meet crucial evidence deadlines in his case, ABC 7 reported.
“Please help us find Autumn,” the Fredericksburg Police Department said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Van Zandt is five-foot, seven-inches, about 135 pounds and has brown eyes and hair.
She also has a heart tattoo on her hip, and was last seen in jean shorts and a black top.
The family of Reed’s 2021 victim said they were “heartbroken” by reports that he might be preying on another child.
“I am praying for the family, and I hope to God she comes home,” the mother said. “I just pray to God you find your little girl because she deserves nothing more than a home in her family’s arms.”
She also accused prosecutors who handled her family’s case in 2021 of being to blame for the current situation with Reel.
“We had everything in line,” she said. “He was looking at life in prison for what he did to him, and with one simple mistake of failing to file paperwork, he was let go.”
“He only got an assault battery charge, that’s it, nothing more. He didn’t have to register as a sex offender. He doesn’t have to do anything. And look what’s happening now. He walks free, and my child did not get any justice whatsoever,” she said.
The judge handling Reel’s case at the time agreed, court documents obtained by ABC 7 showed.
“It’s very frustrating to the Court,” Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate said at the time, adding that evidence deadlines were “woefully, woefully missed in this case.”
The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) launched a new measles dashboard amid an uptick in measles cases and an outbreak in Buckingham County.
The dashboard shows key information to help Virginians see measles trends, understand the impact and know their risk of exposure as measles cases increase nationally and across the commonwealth, VDH said in a press release.
“It’s important for Virginians to know what is happening in their communities in real time,” said State Health Commissioner Dr. Cameron Webb. “This dashboard is our commitment to being as transparent as possible about the impact of measles across the Commonwealth. When people have clear, accessible information, they can make informed decisions to protect themselves and their families.”
How many measles cases are there in Virginia?
The dashboard shows how many measles cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been reported. You can also see case numbers by age, health district and other key factors. Updates will be posted Tuesdays and Thursdays around noon, said VDH.
To date in 2026, VDH has reported 40 cases of measles, with 13% of the cases requiring hospitalization. As of May 21, there are no reported deaths, according to the measles dashboard. Eighty-three percent of the cases are unvaccinated individuals.
Of those cases, 17 are related to an outbreak in Buckingham County. A measles outbreak is defined as three or more related cases among members of different households. The number of cases this year has quickly outpaced the five reported cases from last year.
Measles activity in the U.S., including Virginia, is rising due to increased travel-related exposures, both international and domestic, and declining national vaccination rates. Children younger than 12 months of age and others who are not vaccinated are very susceptible to infection if they are exposed to someone with measles, said VDH.
Protection against the measles, outbreak recommendations
The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against measles, advised VDH. Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles; one dose is about 93% effective. If you or a loved one are not up-to-date with routine MMR vaccines, contact your healthcare provider or call your local health department to schedule a vaccine appointment today.
People who live in or visit the Buckingham County area should talk with their healthcare provider about outbreak vaccine recommendations. This includes considering an early MMR dose for infants older than six months to provide protection while measles is circulating in the community.
Measles is highly contagious and can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. Most people in Virginia have immunity to measles through vaccination or previous infection with measles. Approximately 95% of kindergarteners in Virginia are fully vaccinated against measles. However, some communities within Virginia could have lower vaccination rates, making them more at risk to measles outbreaks. Fortunately, VDH said, an increasing number of people are seeking to confirm their MMR vaccine status following Virginia measles exposure events.
For more information about measles, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/measles. For additional questions, contact VDH’s Call Center at 877-829-4682 (option 2, then option 3 “other”), The VDH Call Center is available Monday–Friday (except holidays) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monique Calello is a reporter at The News Leader in Staunton covering health in the Shenandoah Valley and in Virginia. Connect with her at mcalello@newsleader.com.
Eight months ago, Virginia Tech football hit its lowest point in recent memory. Not a close loss, not a bad beat. The Hokies got handled at home by Old Dominion, 45-26, and the head coach was fired three games into the season. They finished 3-9. Their recruiting class sat in the 120s nationally. The program felt stuck.
Then James Franklin walked through the door, and things started moving fast.
The former Penn State coach went 104-45 in 12 seasons in State College, cracked 10 wins in six of them, and took the Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff in 2024. He signed a five-year, $41.75 million deal in November, pulled the recruiting class from the 120s to a top-30 class by signing day, and built what ESPN ranked as the 15th-best transfer portal class in the country.
So what does the ceiling look like if everything actually clicks?
There is no ceiling conversation without Ethan Grunkemeyer. The redshirt sophomore transferred from Penn State in January, and his story is worth understanding. When Drew Allar went down with an ankle injury last fall, Penn State handed the keys to a 20-year-old backup who had never started a college game. Grunkemeyer did not blink. He completed 69.1 percent of his passes for 1,339 yards, eight touchdowns, and four interceptions, posting a 75.0 QBR. Over the final four games, he threw six touchdowns and zero interceptions and closed the year with a 22-10 win over Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl.
He is not walking into a new offense. He reunited in Blacksburg with offensive coordinator Ty Howle and quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien, the same staff he had at Penn State.CBS Sports ranked him sixth among ACC quarterbacks in March. What makes Grunkemeyer interesting is not the stat line. It is the end of his 2025 season, when the moment got big, and he got better. Virginia Tech needs that guy.
The piece that could make this offense genuinely hard to defend is tight end Luke Reynolds. The Penn State transfer was the No. 4 tight end in the portal per 247Sports. At 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, with a 4.5 40-yard dash and a 38-inch vertical, he is a seam-stretching mismatch at a position Virginia Tech has not had much of. He led all receivers in the spring game with five catches for 69 yards. Howle spent years developing tight ends in the Penn State system, most recently coaching Tyler Warren, who went No. 14 overall to the Indianapolis Colts in the 2025 NFL Draft. Reynolds has the tools to become the best player on this offense by October.
The other thing worth knowing is that despite going 3-9 last year, the Hokies averaged 182.4 rushing yards per game and ranked third in the ACC on the ground. The running game was already there. The problem was everything else. If the passing game catches up, this offense has teeth.
Then there is the strange but logical decision to bring back Brent Pry, the same coach who was fired in September, now as defensive coordinator. Pry held that same role under Franklin at Penn State from 2016 to 2021. He knows the system, knows what Franklin wants from a defense and knows how to build one inside this staff structure. The roster needed work and got some, with additions at edge rusher, linebacker and in the secondary. None of them are household names yet, but Pry has the pedigree to turn them into quality college football players.
The schedule sets up the Hokies for a strong start. Virginia Tech opens with VMI and Old Dominion at home, then travels to Maryland in a non-conference road test before opening ACC play at Boston College on Sept. 26.
What is the ceiling for Virginia Tech?
Nine wins and a major bowl game is the realistic ceiling for year one. It requires Grunkemeyer to take command of the offense, Reynolds to be what the spring game suggested and Pry to piece together a defense faster than most rebuilds allow. None of that is guaranteed. But none of it is far-fetched, either.
Franklin took Vanderbilt from back-to-back 2-10 seasons to nine wins in his second year. He went from 7-6 in his first two seasons at Penn State to 11-3 in his third. He is not a guy who needs forever to make something work.
Blacksburg has not had a reason to believe in a while. It has one now.
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