One of the two men suspected of shooting a mother and her daughter to death in Worcester earlier this month has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
Police tracked down Dejan Belnavis, 27, in San Diego on March 11 after a nearly weeklong manhunt for the suspected gunman. He was brought back to Massachusetts where on Friday morning he appeared in Worcester District Court to be charged with two counts of murder.
At that hearing, a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf. The judge ordered Belnavis held without bail.
Another man, Karel Mangual, 28, of Sterling Street in Worcester, was arraigned earlier this month on initial charges of armed assault with intent to murder and carrying a firearm without a license, to which he pleaded not guilty. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported that he was ordered held without bail and is scheduled to appear back in court for a probable cause hearing on April 12.
Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early announced following that arraignment that the charges would be increased to murder, as would Belnavis’ charges.
The two men are accused of murdering mother Chastity Nunez, 27, and her daughter Zella Nunez, 11, while they were parked in a car in the area of Lisbon Street and Englewood Avenue, according to previous Herald coverage.
Police say they connected Belnavis and Mangual to the shooting through security camera footage, emergency pings of Belnavis’ cell phone, and records from the internal system of the white Acura that authorities say Belnavis was driving at the time of the murders.
Prosecutors say that after Worcester Police received the shots fired call, investigators obtained security camera footage from the scene that shows “the victims’ vehicle parked on the side of the road and two men walk up to the vehicle and start shooting at the vehicle.”
The men then flee the scene toward the white Acura, for which police say an on-scene witness provided the Massachusetts license plate number. The registered owner of that vehicle told police that he had loaned the car to Belnavis starting around a year ago.
Police further linked Belnavis to the scene, according to the “Statement of Facts” document that support the murder charges, because cell phone tower records put him near there at the time of the shooting.
Records provided by AT&T of the Acura’s internal system put the car in Hartford, Conn., after the shooting, police say. Authorities say that security camera footage from there shows two men exiting the suspect vehicle and that Mangual’s face is clearly visible and both men’s shoes match those from the crime scene footage.
This is a developing story.
