Florida Army Vet Killed in Murder-for-Hire Plot, Police Say

Authorities thought a 60-year-old U.S. Army veteran was killed on Veteran's Day while being robbed for his truck while trying to help a stranded motorist.

But sheriff's investigators in Volusia County now say Carlos Cruz-Echevarria was "executed" last November to keep him from testifying in a road rage case.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that the veteran was killed after stopping to help someone in a disabled car. His truck was later found burned.

Sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant says DNA linked 24-year-old Benjamin Bascom to the car; Investigators then learned that 28-year-old Kelsey McFoley hired him to kill the man and 21-year-old Melissa Roque helped him get away. 

All three were arrested on first-degree murder charges.

Cruz-Echevarria had been scheduled to give a deposition in the road rage case against McFoley.


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