Police Charge Second Maryland Man In 2019 Northwest Shooting & Stabbing Death

Wednesday, September 24, 2025, 9:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

WASHINGTON, DC.- Last Friday, a 26-year-old Reisterstown, Maryland, man was apprehended by members of the U.S. Marshals Service in connection with a Grand Jury indictment charging him for his role in the 2019 brutal stabbing and shooting death of a 16-year-old Frederick, Maryland, boy whose lifeless body was found in Northwest, D.C., just days after being reported missing in Maryland.

     According to D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith and initial Police reports, on April 27, 2019, shortly before 7:30 p.m., members of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department responded to reports of an unconscious person in a wooded area along the 5200 Block of Canal Road in Northwest, D.C.

According To The Initial Police Reports

     Upon arrival, Police Officers found the lifeless body of a teenage boy, who had succumbed to stab and gunshot wounds. The boy was pronounced deceased at the scene. 

     During an extensive and exhaustive investigation, Homicide Branch Detectives were able to identify the teen victim as Eberson Guerra-Sanchez, 16, of Frederick, Maryland. The teen had been reported missing just days before by family members. During the course of the years-long investigation, Detectives were able to identify two suspects, Pedro Alexander Joya Argueta, 25, of Frederick, Maryland, and Erick Palacios-Argueta, 26, also of Frederick, Maryland, as the individuals responsible for the death of Mr. Guerra-Sanchez, and the case was presented to a D.C. Superior Court Grand Jury.

     On Tuesday, July 9, 2024, pursuant to a D.C. Superior Court warrant, members of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Fugitive Unit located and took custody of Joya Argueta from members of the U.S. Marshals Service. Following being turned over to D.C. authorities, Joya Argueta was formally charged with first-degree Murder While Armed-Felony Murder. Joya Argueta has remained detained in the D.C. Central Detention Facility.

On Friday, September 19, 2025, U.S. Marshals Apprehend Palacios-Argueta

     On Friday, September 19, 2025, members of the U.S. Marshals Service located and apprehended Palacios-Argueta in Reisterstown, Maryland. Upon extradition to the District of Columbia, Palacios-Argueta will be formally charged pursuant to the Grand Jury indictment with one count of first-degree Murder While Armed and related Weapons Offenses. Palacios-Argueta is currently being detained in Maryland.

“The rules of the court require us to include a statement that states: The charges outlined in this publication are merely accusations, and the defendant and or defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.”