WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — An uncle and nephew have been arrested and face charges of first-degree murder in the stabbing of a man whose body was found in a dumpster at a senior community in the south end of West Palm Beach in 2022, police said Tuesday night.
After nearly two years of investigative work, Reynaldo Paredes, 53, of Palm Beach County, and his nephew Yoel Lazano Paredes, 24, of Freeport, Illinois, were apprehended by West Palm Beach police and the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday morning, spokesman Mike Jachles said in a news release. The older man was arrested in West Palm Beach and the other man in Freeport.
They are accused of stabbing Jorge Menendez, 49, of West Palm Beach after all three were seen leaving a Mexican sports bar in the 5200 block of Georgia Avenue after midnight April 3.
At 8:49 a.m., a Spanish-speaking caller to 911 reported finding a body in the dumpster in 3900 block of Southridge Court in the Southridge Senior Community.
The woman was taking the garbage out and noticed the victim's body, Jachles said at a media briefing, who added it was a brutal death.
The agency's Homicide Unit's investigation led them to the suspects, including the nephew who moved to Illinois sometime after the stabbing, Jachles said.
Reynaldo Paredes was arrested at his home around 10:30 a.m. after Yoel Lazano Paredes at 8:30 a.m. on the street.
Investigators learned that the pair left the sports bar together. The younger man's car, a 2003 white four-door Mercury, was captured on video near the dumpster, Jachles said.
Through DNA and other evidence, detectives confirmed they killed Menendez.
Reynald Paredes was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail and Yoel Lazano Paredes is behind held in the Stephenson County Jail in Freeport.