Authorities identify Youngstown men as victims in execution-style slayings in Akron

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Authorities have identified the three victims who were killed Friday morning in Summit County, where investigators found the men bound and gagged.

The office of the Summit County medical examiner said Inmer Reyes, 25, and Victor Varela-Rodriguez, 31, were found on the side of the road on Cordova Avenue in Akron. The men, from Youngstown, had been shot in the head.

A short distance away in Copley Township, Domingo Castillo-Reyes, 35, was found bound and gagged. Castillo-Reyes, from Youngstown, also had been shot in the head. The three were found between 8:30 and 9 a.m. Friday.

Authorities said Saturday that Elias Gudino, 58, of Copley is charged with aggravated murder.

Police have not revealed a motive in the slayings. Gudino was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2010 for running a drug ring that funneled cocaine from southern Mexico into several states. Gudino ran the operation from Akron, according to federal court records.

Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used wiretaps and informants to track the pipeline, which shipped drugs across the Mexican border in hidden compartments in trucks, according to court documents.

“Mr. Gudino has expressed the desire to undo his criminal activity so that his children would not suffer because of his crimes,” a defense attorney wrote in 2010. “He wishes to be an example to his children and family and hopes that he can earn forgiveness from them in the future.”

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