Federal prosecutors say a Yakima man at the center of a sprawling drug trafficking network has admitted to killing a man, his pregnant wife, and, tragically, their unborn child.
In federal court this week, 35-year-old Benjamin Madrigal-Birrueta, an undocumented Mexican national living in Yakima, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, acknowledging that both killings were linked to his drug operation.
Prosecutors say that on August 28, 2022, Madrigal-Birrueta and his associates shot 44-year-old Cesar Murillo in the back of the head and torso at a remote ranch outside Yakima. Murillo had reportedly argued with Madrigal-Birrueta’s crew over an unpaid drug debt. Following the killing, Murillo’s body was buried near the ranch on Madrigal-Birrueta’s orders.
Days later, Murillo’s wife, 33-year-old Maira Hernandez, was lured to the same ranch under false pretenses. Believing her husband was waiting, she went with Madrigal-Birrueta, who drove her from Yakima. Hernandez, six months pregnant, was shot in the head and buried next to her husband, her unborn child dying with her.
“This was a cold, calculated act of deception and violence,” prosecutors wrote in filings. “It was meant to silence witnesses, erase debts, and preserve control of a criminal enterprise.”
Madrigal-Birrueta now awaits sentencing, scheduled for March 27, 2026, facing a potential life sentence.
Another man, Ricardo Orizaba-Zendejas, has been charged as an accessory after the fact and for helping maintain Madrigal-Birrueta’s trafficking network. His trial is set for October 2025.
Court documents reveal the investigation’s complexity. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) first discovered Madrigal-Birrueta’s network while tracking drug shipments through San Diego ports of entry in 2021. By summer 2022, agents focused on the Yakima ranch, but within days of interviewing Murillo and Hernandez, both were dead.
Locating their bodies took over a year. Investigators used tools more common in archaeology or scientific research than law enforcement: geophysics, ground-penetrating radar, aerial surveys, laser imaging, soil chemical testing, and cadaver dogs. Their persistence paid off on September 13, 2023, when the remains were recovered and exhumed.
Alongside the murder charges, authorities seized evidence of a sophisticated drug operation, including methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, firearms (including a machine gun), and body armor.
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