Spray painted pickup truck leads to suspect in Prairie Twp. homicides

A 22-year-old man accused of being involved in a robbery turned double homicide in Prairie Township last month has been released after posting 10% of a $100,000 bond on Monday.

Mason Thompson Bray, of the Southwest Side, had been arrested on Friday in connection with the May 27 shooting deaths of 19-year-old Trintan Mendoza and 21-year-old Francisco Dejesus Rodriguez.

Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Eileen Paley set a $100,000 bond during Thompson Bray’s initial appearance Monday in court. Court records show Thompson Bray posted the required 10% of that bond, or $10,000, with a bail bond company within hours and was released from the Franklin County jail.

Bonds in most homicide cases in Franklin County have generally been $1 million.

Thompson Bray had been arrested after an investigation by the Franklin County Sheriff’s office located a pickup truck they believe was used in the homicide at the home of Thompson Bray’s father.

According to court records, around 11:30 p.m. on May 27, Thompson Bray and an unidentified accomplice were seen on surveillance video going into a home on the 300 block of Idlewood Place in Prairie Township.

Thompson Bray and the accomplice had intended to rob Mendoza and Rodriguez, who had been living at the home, detectives allege in court records. During the course of the robbery, Mendoza and Rodriguez were both shot and died from their injuries, records state.

Video from the home showed Thompson Bray and the accomplice leaving the scene in a 2011 red Dodge Ram pickup truck that detectives say had a distinct exhaust leak or noise.

Franklin County detectives received a tip on June 2 that led them to the home of Thompson Bray’s father. A 2011 Dodge Ram pickup truck, which appeared to be spray-painted black, was in the driveway and impounded as potential evidence, according to court records.

That truck had the same distinct noise or leak that was captured on the surveillance video of the home where the double homicide occurred.

Court records said that detectives obtained video and a receipt from an Auto Zone store that showed Thompson Bray and the accomplice purchased black spray paint on May 28, just hours after the double homicide occurred.

Thompson Bray was interviewed on Thursday with his attorney, according to court records, and admitted to his role in the robbery and double homicide.

The second suspect in the case has not yet been identified publicly by detectives and is not in custody.

Anyone with information about this ongoing investigation is asked to call detectives at 614-525-3351. bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner