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PITTSBORO — The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office has charged two brothers who lived in Raleigh with the first-degree murder of a 33-year-old man last September.
On Sept. 15, a passing motorist saw a mobile home on fire at 638 Mitchell’s Chapel Road, which is located northwest of Pittsboro just past the 64 Bypass. After firefighters extinguished the fire, they found the body of a man, who was later identified as Martin Catalan Uriostegui.
Sheriff and fire investigators determined that Uriostegui had been shot in the head with a small caliber gun and that the fire had been intentionally set in order to cover up the homicide.
The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation assisted Chatham County deputies with the investigation, and through talking to witnesses and others, they developed enough information to charge Manuel Nunez Garcia, 23, of Apt. A, 3244 Calumet Drive, Raleigh, with murder.
After interviewing Garcia on Thursday, investigators brought his brother, Luis Antonio-Nunez Garcia, 33, of 4304 Red Tail Court, Raleigh, in for questioning and subsequently charged him with the murder, too.
Both men also were charged with arson.
“Investigators feel that the killing was drug related and not the result of gang activity,” a press release for the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office said.
They are being held without bond and are scheduled to appear in Chatham County District Court in Pittsboro on Jan. 25.
