Akron police body camera video offers new insight into horrific triple murder case

AKRON, Ohio (WOIO) - 19 News obtained body camera video Thursday from March 10, when Akron police made a gruesome discovery.

“Okay, we got two dead-bound and gagged Hispanic men,” an officer said that morning.

Akron police found the bodies off Cordova Avenue near a wooded area after someone called 911.

Police found the two men tied up, gagged, and shot execution style.

Less than two miles away in Copley, a third man was found also bound and gagged and shot in the head in the woods.

“I’ve got a woman here she drove by 7:50 this morning and saw the bodies there but she didn’t call the police,” an officer told dispatch. “She thought they were like mannequins.”

“I seen the guy with the baseball cap laying there and then I seen something else, and I didn’t know,” a witness recalled.

“Listen you didn’t do anything wrong,” the officer told her.

“Oh, I know it’s just upsetting,” the woman said.

Records from Barberton Municipal Court show that a 4th man was also bound, taped, and shot in the head, but he escaped and miraculously survived.

The Copley police chief said they are keeping his identity protected because he will be a vital witness in their case.

Copley police arrested 58-year-old Elias Gudino and charged him with one count of aggravated murder and one count of attempted aggravated murder.

Akron police have not charged Gudino with the two murders yet. They said they are waiting for evidence to come back from the lab.

Police believe the men were murdered somewhere else and dumped at the two locations.

19 News spoke with a woman who lives on Diagonal Road. right next to Cordova Avenue where the bodies were dumped.

“I’m afraid,” the woman said. “I’m afraid to let my daughter out. I’m afraid to let my dogs out. It feels unsafe.”

She said she’s called city council several times to try to get street lights put in.

“Because it’s so dark and that’s how people get away with things,” the woman said. She said there have been other bodies dumped on this road too. “Not only bodies, tires, refrigerators, furniture, animals too,” the neighbor said.

Neighbors said this is also a place where people like to party and drink and do drugs.

They’re hoping this incident will push the city to at least add lights to this street, but their ultimate goal is to make Diagonal Road a one-way street.

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