Teen boy will join brother to face adult charges for brutal murder

A 15-year-old Pierce County boy has been charged as an adult for first degree murder in the brutal attack that left another boy dead last summer.

Prosecutor Mark Lindquist says 15-year-old Cristobal Arroyo and his 16-year-old brother, Luis Arroyo, lured the victim, 15-year-old Hector Hernandez-Valdez, to their apartment.

The brothers attempted to rob Hernandez-Valdez of drugs and cash. When the he resisted Lindquist said the brother’s became violent.

“They surprise attacked him, bludgeoned him, stabbed him 37 times and slit his throat,” said Lindquist.

On the afternoon of June 1, a 7-year-old girl who was related to the Arroyos, was home during the killing. The girl told an interviewer that she heard pounding on the stairs and saw a knife and blood on the carpet as well as on Luis Arroyo’s sleeve. The defendants told the girl that the knife and blood were “fake” and set her in front of a television to watch cartoons.

The suspects’ mother came home to find blood and a recycling bin in her living room, according to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. When she noticed towels and “reddish-brown” stains on the floor, her sons claimed to be cleaning up “chili” that they had spilled while making lunch.

When the mother went upstairs to find a boy’s body lying on a sheet, she walked to a nearby police station to report the crime.

Meanwhile, police say the boys wrapped the victim’s body in a blanket and placed it in a recycling bin in the alley behind the residence.

According to police, the brothers had written two notes, how they would get rid of a body and try to cover-up the crime.

Prosecutors say the first is consistent with Cristobal Arroyo’s handwriting. The list included: “lay out bags, shut her up, hammer her bones, cutting off limbs, cutting off head, cutting open,” and “done.”

The second note was consistent with Luis Arroyo’s handwriting, according to prosecutors. That note included, “cut open, shank the stomach, wack[sic] the head, camera set up.”

Police also discovered a cell phone at the Arroyo’s home that contained a short video of the victim lying face down in a bath tub.

Police say the defendants admitted that Hernandez-Valdez was alive and making noises when they put him in the bathtub. They ran water over the victim and one of them cut his throat.

“All off this just for a small amount of dope, and a few bucks,” said Lindquist. “This was an exceptionally brutal crime and it would not have been justice for the younger brother to walk free on his 21st birthday – and that’s what would have happened if he was tried as a juvenile.”

With a judge’s approval, the brothers will be tried together in adult court. The first hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

KIRO Radio’s Brandi Kruse and Kim Shepard contributed to this report.