Three slain Mexican children's kin paid to enter the United States

S.A. Miller:

The families of three slain Mexican children and the relatives accused of the killings paid human traffickers, or "coyotes," to smuggle them into the country, a Baltimore police detective testified yesterday.

"Something was paid, but to whom and how much, I don't know," said Detective Irvin Bradley, the lead investigator in the case.

The testimony fit a defense theory that family members involved in the smuggling, not the defendants, killed Lucero Solis Quezada, 8, her brother Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr., 9, and their 10-year-old cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada to "send a message" about not paying the fee.

The children were beaten with an aluminum baseball bat and nearly decapitated with a boning knife in their Northwest Baltimore apartment in May 2004.

The children's cousin Adan Canela, 18, and their uncle Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 23, are on trial on first-degree murder charges in Baltimore Circuit Court. They face life in prison if convicted.

The defendants, the victims and their immediate families were illegal aliens from Mexico at the time of the killings. Family members have received special visas for the trial, which could last a month.

The victims' families have defended their kin accused of the killings, and Detective Bradley testified Monday that family members had been "reluctant" to cooperate with investigators.

None of the family members speaks English, which apparently hampered the homicide investigation because suspects and witnesses had to be questioned through an interpreter. The language barrier has slowed the trial as well, when family members had to testify through court interpreters.

James L. Rhodes, lead attorney for Mr. Canela, suggested in his opening statement Friday that the culprit is his client's father, Victor Espinoza Perez, to whom relatives owed at least $2,500 for the illegal entry into the United States. The theory was one of several alternative explanations for the crime presented by the defense attorneys.

Prosecutors have not offered a motive in the slayings but say DNA evidence, including the children's blood found on the defendants' pants and shoes, will prove that they are the "cold-blooded killers."

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