Suspect jailed in connection with 2014 slaying
Man’s alleged role in motel killing unclear
More than three years after a man was found dead at an Orange County Super 8 motel, a suspect in connection with his killing returned to Orange County after being arrested by Canadian authorities in February.
Benito Orta-Ochoa, 27, was arrested in Canada on Feb. 2 and indicted on a first degree murder charge weeks later. He is the second person charged in connection with the December 2014 killing of 36-year-old David Pequenoginen.
A motel employee called 911 on Dec. 23, 2014, after Pequenoginen’s body was found lying on the bed in a room, his neck cut and his feet bound together with an orange T-shirt, a 2014 incident report shows.
About six months later, an Orange County grand jury indicted Simon Acosta-Cabrales on a first degree murder charge in connection with the killing.
Acosta-Cabrales was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to about 20 years in prison, court documents show.
Interviews filed in AcostaCabrales’ case in 2017 revealed details about the days leading up to the murder.
Acosta-Cabrales and Pequenoginen worked together at a Georgia-based roofing company and were in the Central Florida area with two other roofers at the time of the murder, the company’s owners and other workers said in the interviews. The group left Tampa on Dec. 22, 2014, for a job the next day in Kissimmee, but they never showed. An employee at the motel on Landstreet Road told officials the men paid cash for two rooms just after 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2014, the incident report shows. About 5:30 p.m. the next day, an employee found Pequenoginen dead.
Orta-Ochoa’s alleged role in the murder is unclear. Sergio Garcia Trujillo, who worked with the group for the Tampa job but left before the others went to Orange County, said in a deposition that a worker by the name of Benito Ortiz roomed with Pequenoginen at the Super 8. The workers often went by different names, he said. For example, Simon AcostaCabrales called himself Lucas.
Pequenoginen was described by his employers as a genial man who worked hard.
“Hard-working, he’s harmless, one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met,” Michael Workman, who owned the roofing company with his brother, said in a 2017 interview.
Pequenoginen was a supervisor and worked his subordinates “pretty hard,” said Laurens Workman, Michael Workman’s brother. That led to some quarrels with other employees.
Garcia Trujillo said the workers’ time in Tampa was contentious. The roofers wanted to leave for their holiday vacation after the Tampa job, but Pequenoginen insisted they stop in Kissimmee to repair a building leak, he said. Garcia Trujillo recalled frequent arguments between Pequenoginen, Acosta-Cabrales and another worker in Tampa.
Orta-Ochoa was denied bond at a first appearance Thursday. He remains held at the Orange County Jail.