Drug robbery gone bad
Mixed martial arts fighter fought back and was killed, records show
The West Boca home-invasion killing of mixed martial arts fighter Aaron Rajman one year ago was a drug robbery gone wrong, according to recently released court records.
Investigators and prosecutors have never publicly explained the circumstances behind the July 3, 2017, murder of the beloved, 25-year-old MMA professional and respected member of South Florida’s Orthodox Jewish community.
But away from the ring and the temple, Rajman was a marijuana dealer who ran an illegal business from the bedroom where he was shot multiple times, according to the records, based on statements family members and friends gave detectives.
Details about the latenight killing — and the investigation leading to thearrests of three young people two months later — are found in more than 1,100 pages of documents obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel through a public records request. Some excerpts: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies and other investigators who first came to the crime scene reported the distinctive odor of raw and smoked marijuana permeating the Rajman house.
Rajman’s girlfriend, who witnessed the killing, told an investigator that he was a “large distributor of marijuana” fromthe home.
When asked by detectives to suggest possible reasons for the violence, Rajman’s younger brother replied, “We’re drug dealers, we have a lot of s---.”
Weeks before the murder, Rajman was the apparent victim of an unreported theft of 3 pounds of marijuana and $3,000 from the home. And months earlier
he had cut off a drug deal elsewhere to avoid being robbed.
A major lead for detectives was a phone call Rajman received minutes before he was ambushed. A girl who placed the call was charged; another defendant’s fingerprint was found in the home.
Rajman’s family members, and friends in the MMA community, who were contacted for this report declined to comment about the anniversary of his death or the criminal case.
“Thank you anyway,” said the victim’s mother, Lauren Rajman.
Friends knew Aaron Rajman as a young man with a heart of gold. He wore a yarmulke in his MMA fights and even was nicknamed “The Matzoh Brawler.” One family friend, who helped raise $20,000 online for Rajman’s funeral expenses, recalled him as “the kindest person to all that knew him.”
In a June 28, 2017, Facebook post thanking people for his birthday greetings the previous day, Rajman announced plans for “live MMA and kickboxing fights starting regularly in Boca” in September.
But the court files show that a fewdays later, Rajman was allegedly targeted for his “weed” and cash he kept around from many illicit transactions at the home in the 22700 block of Southwest 65th Terrace.
Physically fit at 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, he died from multiple gunshots, including a fatal chest wound, after he fought back and tried to disarm an assailant, according to an autopsy report and Rajman’s girlfriend. Three men wearing hooded sweatshirts had stormed the home, according to the girlfriend and Rajman’s brother.
The records do not identify the accused shooter. Detectives used cellphone records, surveillance video, witness statements, and socialrecords to identify suspects and ultimately make the arrests.
The defendants are: Summer Church, 17, of West Boca; Jace Swinton, 19, of Margate; and Roberto Ortiz, 19, of suburban West Palm Beach. Church, who was an Olympic Heights High junior, will be tried as an adult.
Church and Swinton were dating at the time; Ortiz was an acquaintance of the couple, records show.
All three were indicted by a grand jury on a charge of first-degree murder, and two counts of armed homeinvasion robbery with a firearm.
They are being held at Palm Beach County Jail without bond; the prosecution is still in the early stages and the next court date is a case-status hearing with the lawyers on Sept. 5.
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, which released the records already supplied to defense lawyers, will not comment because the case is pending, spokesman Mike Edmondson said.
He referred back to a Sept. 1 statement from State Attorney Dave Aronberg that sought to reassure the community west of Boca Raton that Rajman’s death “was no random act of violence” and justice would be sought for the victim’s family.
The files reveal how authorities caught the alleged perpetrators:
It starts with Church, who admittedly knew Rajman from smoking marijuana with him at his house in the past.
She told detectives she was in a car with Ortiz, her boyfriend and other men she didn’t know, when Ortiz told her to call Rajman to make sure he was home. Church asked Rajman if she and a girlfriend could “match” or smoke with him, but he said hewas busy.
“I swear to God I thought it was a robbery,” she said during an interrogation. “I didn’t know there was any guns.”
Church was not among the people who stormed the Rajman home, records show.
Michael Salnick, the attorney for Church, said she is “a sweet, well-spoken polite young lady” who “at the time of the homicide was never in that house and had nothing to do with the actual killing.”
Salnick said the victim was known to be associated with criminals; his client has no prior record and was attending high school.
“There are allegations there was major drug dealing out of the house and allegations he was more than an MMA fighter,” he said.
Deputies have reported taking illegal narcotics from Rajman’s bedroom, including marijuana, suspected hash oil, suspected LSD, suspected heroin, suspected fentanyl, and suspected narcotics mushrooms.
One detective took note of a dry-erase marker board above Rajman’s nightstand, with the words: “the menu, grape ape, tesla tower, acapulco gold, godzilla glue, monster og, sour og, strawberry, frost, g-13, and grape fruit.”
Also listed was: “specials, brownies, dabs, live resin, oil cartridges, salted caramel blondie, magic mushrooms and moon rocks. Ask about thisweek’s specials.”
Rajman’s girlfriend told detectives about his activities. She “advised several customers would frequent the residence on a daily basis to purchase marijuana,” a report said.
The girlfriend told the detective that moments after Rajman got the call from Church, she saw a man slowly open the bedroom door and thought it was a customer until she noticed the gun.
Rajman was shot as he tried to disarm the intruder, she said.
Another man then came in and joined in rummaging through Rajman’s belongings, while a third man waited outside the room, she said.
As they fled the home to a getaway car, they dropped some of the stolen goods. Deputies found a bag of marijuana at the curb in front of the Rajman house. Rajman’s wallet was found in a neighbor’s front yard, along with a martial arts sword and Rajman’s phone.
Investigators identified other suspects beside the three who were charged, but there have been no other arrests.
“Even though we made three arrests, the case is not closed yet,” Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, said Friday.
All three defendants gave statements to detectives at various points in the investigation.
Five days after the shooting, Swinton told a detective, “Like, I may be a lot of things. I may be a drug addict at times. You know, I smoke weed here and there. But, like, a murderer is one thing I’m not.”
He said he had smoked pot with Rajman before and, “I want Aaron to have justice ’cause I don’t think he deserved that. … That was very cruel and unreasonable.”
Swinton denied being one of the robbers, but he said Ortiz planned it and advised him not to talk to the authorities.
Swinton said he and Church attended a July Fourth party at Ortiz’s house, when “Roberto told us, y’all better not say nothing to nobody.”
Ortiz also denied any involvement. While deputies searched his home four days after the shooting, he sat in a patrol car and said ,“Somebody’ s framing me for something… It’s just funny how they got a warrant off of something somebody said.”
Valerie Masters, Ortiz’s attorney, and Chris Had dad, Swinton’s attorney, could not be reached for comment this week despite phone messages.
During Church’s lengthy interviews with detectives after the shooting, she was asked why Ortiz asked her and her boyfriend to help him.
“I guess hewanted someone that knew … where all the stuff was maybe,” she said, insisting the couple refused to participate in the robbery.
“We said no. … They said they were gonna rob him. They said nothing about killing him, nothing at all,” she said.
Friends have said Rajman didn’t have known enemies. According to Mixed Martial Arts. Rajman had an 8-1win-loss record as an amateur and 2-2 record after turning pro in 2014.
His final post on his Facebook page noted how he provided four days of selfdefense training for school police officers.
“I hope,” he wrote, “the training helps the kids and the officers to get home safe!”