3 Venezuelan gang members charged with murdering North Texas man and kidnapping 2 children; 1 suspect is free

FARMER’S BRANCH, Texas – Three suspected gang members were arrested for killing a man and kidnapping two children in Çiftçi Branch earlier this year.

The suspects were located in Colorado and New Mexico. The fourth remains at large.

Authorities believe the suspects and the murder victim are members of a Venezuelan street gang running an ATM theft operation.

According to the Farmer Branch Police Department, Tren De Aragua is the Venezuelan gang to which four major murder suspects belong.

Investigators believe four Venezuelan gang members kidnapped 33-year-old Nilzult Petit and her two children and took them to an apartment in Farmers Branch, where she was shot in the head.

On Aug. 24, the body of 33-year-old Nilzult Petit was found on Valley View Lane in Irving. Officers later found two young children related to Petit wandering along I-35E in Lewisville after they were released unharmed by their kidnappers.

Petit allegedly worked with people who killed him and did not pay them in a nationwide ATM theft scheme.

Attorney John Helms is a former federal prosecutor who is not connected to this case. He says ATM thefts are often targeted by criminals far from their home base.

“Some of them will know how to do it. They’ll hire others and show them how to do it,” he said. “Then they go to different locations around the country, attack some ATMs, and then come back. This makes it difficult to find them if they are targeting ATMs that are far away from where they are located.”

Carlos Luis Zambrano Bolivar, 25, and Jhonata Nahin Toro Gonzalez, 22, were arrested by ICE in Aurora, Colorado, where gang activity allegedly plays a large role in politics.

Ehiker Alexander Morales Mendoza, 38, was located and arrested by U.S. Homeland Security in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The fourth suspect, 29-year-old Jhonny Jesus Martinez Serrano, remains at large.

“I haven’t seen a lot of information indicating a significant presence in North Texas other than a few isolated spots,” Helms said.

Tren De Aragua started in a prison in Venezuela and spread to other South American countries in 2018 while smuggling immigrants, according to InSight Crime, a nonprofit organization that specializes in tracking organized crime.

InSight Crime further explains: “This rapid expansion has come largely at the expense of nearly 8 million desperate Venezuelans who have fled their country in search of a better life since 2015. While the world looks at this mass exodus and sees a humanitarian crisis, Tren De Aragua is a business He saw the opportunity and took full advantage of it.”

“Criminal gangs can take this opportunity to blackmail them and commit crimes against them,” Helms said.

Tren De Aragua has been linked to crimes ranging from sex trafficking to cybercrime.

It’s unclear how many gang members there are currently in the US, but InSight Crime says there’s no evidence members are coordinating on a national level in the US

It was claimed that the murder suspects kidnapped two children from the family of the man they killed, but released these children.

Police have not said exactly what connection the alleged Venezuelan gang members have to North Texas.

Farmer Branch police will not interview anyone on Tuesday.

Investigators are asking anyone with information to contact the Farmers Branch Police Department at (972) 919-1406 or [email protected].