WASHINGTON — Two more arrests have been made in what police are calling three gang-related killings in Northern Virginia and Maryland, raising the arrest tally to 22, with an additional suspect identified.
A 17-year-old boy from Montgomery County was arrested Wednesday in the death of 21-year-old Christian Alexander Sosa Rivas, whose remains were found Jan. 12 along the Potomac River in Dumfries, Virginia.
The Prince William County police have also named Dimas Misael Canales Santos, 27, of Hyattsville, Maryland, as a suspect. They describe him as a Hispanic man, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing about 140 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Of the seven people charged related to the death of Sosa Rivas, two are juveniles. Arrests also have been made in Baltimore; in Newtown Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia; and in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, about 100 miles north of Philadelphia.
Earlier Thursday, police investigating the June 2016 gang murder of 18-year-old Cristian Villagran-Morales in a Gaithersburg, Maryland, park said they have a fifth suspect in custody: Jose Coreas-Ventura, 20, was arrested in Bedford County, Virginia, Tuesday.
Of the five people now charged in the murder of Villagran-Morales, three are teenagers.
The teenage ex-girlfriend of Sosa Rivas is part of the investigation into the abduction and murder of a 15-year-old Gaithersburg girl, police say.
Damaris Alexandra Reyes Rivas’ remains were discovered in a Springfield, Virginia, industrial park Feb. 11. Of the 10 people arrested in connection with that case, six are teenagers.
Investigations continue in all these cases; anyone with information is asked to contact police.
