On August 14, 2023, 43-year-old Alejandro Arrellano-Fernandez and his 66-year-old mother, Lilia Fernandez Ortiz, were found shot to death in their Lewisville, Texas home by a relative who had been unable to reach them. Both had gunshot wounds to the head; Arrellano-Fernandez was discovered in the garage and his mother in the kitchen, where she may have been preparing breakfast when attacked.

Investigators reviewed neighbor surveillance from August 10 showing two men approach Arrellano-Fernandez outside the residence, shove him to the ground and one man brandish a firearm. A struggle happened partly off-camera and a brass casing rolled into view; the second man was later seen dragging an unresponsive Arrellano-Fernandez into the garage. Arrest affidavits identify the assailants as 37-year-old Samuel Atinafu Melkamu and 51-year-old Jawara Oji Black, and both were charged with two counts of capital murder. Melkamu had done small jobs for Arrellano-Fernandez’s construction business and sent texts about unpaid wages about a week before the killings, a possible motive tied to a financial dispute.

Did anyone in Lewisville know about tensions between Arrellano-Fernandez and the men who were charged?