Eliel Avelar
A plea agreement made nearly three years ago in what investigators describe as a murder-for-hire case has been thrown out of court.
In accepting the original agreement, Eliel Avelar, 34, who resides in a suburb of Chicago, agreed to admit he shot and killed 37-year-old Leobardo Rodriguez Flores of Columbus on Feb. 26, 2020. The shooting took place at night in the parking lot of the victim’s employer, Tool Dynamics, on South Marr Road.
According to the plea bargain offered by the office of then-county prosecutor Bill Nash, Avelar would receive a 17 ½ year prison sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter as a Level 2 felony. However, the offer was contingent upon Avelar agreeing to testify truthfully against three alleged accomplices: Abraham Jimenez Cesareo, Eladia Jacobo Ortiz and Esam Mohammed Abujoudeh.
But after Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton threw out the plea agreement Monday, Avelar is again facing a dozen charges: murder; voluntary manslaughter as a Level 2 felony; two counts of criminal mischief both as Class B misdemeanors; armed robbery as a Level 3 felony; auto theft as a Level 6 felony; obstruction of justice as a Level 6 felony; two counts of aiding, inducing or causing obstruction of justice as Level 6 felonies; intimidation as a Level 6 felony; unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien as a Level 6 felony; and criminal mischief as a Class B misdemeanor.
If found guilty of all 12 charges, Avelar could receive up to 123 years in prison, as well as fines as high as $64,000.
New court dates for Avelar include a change of plea hearing at 9 a.m. on Sept. 18; a final pretrial conference at 11 a.m. on Oct. 2; and a trial tentatively scheduled to get underway at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 24.
Last spring, current Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay expressed concern regarding Avelar’s 2020 plea bargain. While legally and ethically bound to uphold agreements made while Nash was prosecutor, Holden-Kay said the cases against the three co-defendants might be resolved without Avelar’s assistance.
Cesareo, a 38-year-old Columbus resident, plead guilty last summer to aiding, inducing, or causing kidnapping as a Level 2 felony, as well as aiding, inducing or causing aggravated battery as a Level 3 felony. He’s scheduled for sentencing at 10 a.m. on Sept. 7.
Ortiz is scheduled for a change of plea hearing at 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 16, with a jury trial tentatively set to get underway at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 14. The 37-year-old Columbus resident is charged with aiding, inducing or causing murder, as well as aggravated battery as a Level 3 felony. Investigators said Ortiz is responsible for bringing Avelar to Bartholomew County and connecting him with Cesareo.
Abujoudeh, who drove the suspects the night of the killing, is facing less serious charges of battery resulting in serious bodily injury as a Level 5 felony and obstruction of justice as a Level 6 felony. On May 20, 2020, Abujoudeh was freed after posting a bond. The 26-year-old Oak Forest, Illinois resident was scheduled for a change of plea hearing Monday, but the matter was postponed.
