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Men Who Posed as DTE Workers Get Life Without Parole in Rochester Hills Murder

Separate juries returned guilty verdicts after testimony that 72-year-old Hussein Murray died by homicidal asphyxiation.

Overview

  • Judge Yasmine Poles sentenced Carlos Hernandez and Joshua Zuazo on Dec. 9 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree felony murder.
  • Both men also received additional prison terms for two counts of unlawful imprisonment tied to the attack inside the Murray home.
  • Hernandez and Zuazo declined to speak at sentencing, and their attorneys said they will appeal the convictions.
  • Prosecutors said the pair gained entry by claiming to check a gas leak, took Murray to the basement, tied his wife with duct tape, and fled before she freed herself to call 911.
  • A medical examiner testified that Murray’s death resulted from neck compression with asphyxiation, and investigators linked the suspects through arrests in Michigan and Louisiana and subsequent extradition.