SHERIFF CALLS DRUG SUSPECTS 'PEOPLE OF INTEREST' IN DEATH OF PARENTS.
TWO YOUNG SONS

West Palm Beach -- Jose Escobedo was caught up in a web of drugs,
guns and money. He brought his wife and two young boys from Texas and
got involved with drug dealers and traffickers. At least one of them
shot all four Escobedos to death on a dark stretch of Florida's Turnpike.

Yessica Escobedo was found sheltering her sons in her arms.

The St. Lucie County sheriff and federal documents on Friday began
painting a picture of the ruthless homicides and the people
authorities think are responsible.

"These people all do know each other. We do not feel it was a revenge
killing," St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said. "We think it was
either related to the theft of drugs or money or both."

At a news conference, Mascara named four "people of interest" in the
Escobedo family homicide. They are in federal custody after the Drug
Enforcement Administration on Wednesday night raided their rented
West Palm Beach home, in the 6400 block of Garden Court in the Briar
Bay development.

They are [Name redacted] and [Name redacted], both 23; [Name
redacted], 26; and [Name redacted], 18, of Greenacres. They are being
held without bond in the Palm Beach County Jail, facing federal
charges of cocaine possession with intent to sell. No one has been
charged in the Escobedo killings.

The four appeared in federal court in Fort Pierce on Friday and were
assigned attorneys, said Alicia Valle, special counsel to the U.S.
Attorney's Office. They are scheduled to return to court Friday.

[Name redacted], 20, was arrested on the drug charges with the others
Wednesday but is not connected to the killings, investigators said.

The search Wednesday turned up cocaine, crack and Ecstasy; 13 guns in
the garage; and an assault rifle in the master bedroom, according to
the U.S. Attorney Office's criminal complaint. The guns are being
tested for a connection to the killings, St. Lucie Sheriff's Lt.
Jerry Rothman said.

Authorities turned up a photo of [Name redacted] with Jose Escobedo.

During an Oct. 14 search of the Escobedo home in Greenacres, local
authorities concluded that the home might have been used for drug
trafficking, according to the complaint.

They found drug ledgers with names and initials, figures and
notations to calculate debt and payment, the complaint reads. Some of
the initials and nicknames match the drug suspects. Another list read
"Money that needs to get paid," according to the complaint.

Escobedo had computer printouts of jail booking photographs of [Name
redacted] and [Name redacted], who had been charged with probation
violation and drug charges, respectively.

The DEA was brought into the homicide investigation within the first
36 hours, when authorities had an idea who killed Escobedo, 28; his
wife, Yessica, 25; and sons Luis Damien, 4, and Luis Julian, 3. Their
bodies were found Oct. 13 along a desolate stretch of the turnpike in
Port St. Lucie.

The Escobedos moved from Brownsville, Texas, to Greenacres in June.

"We think the theft of drugs and money was an ongoing theft and it
culminated on the shoulder of the Florida Turnpike," Mascara said Friday.

Detectives began looking at drug involvement when they traveled to
Texas, confirming that Escobedo's brother, Jose Manuel Escobedo, was
involved in heroin and cocaine trafficking. He is a fugitive from
federal authorities and believed to be in Matamoros, Mexico, Mascara said.

The four well-known drug suspects have 27 felony arrests among them
on drugs, robbery and battery charges, Mascara said. [Name redacted]
has spent five years in prison between two convictions, including
burglary, battery and grand theft, according to the state Department
of Corrections.

"The entire community has been up in arms about this homicide,"
Mascara said. "We receive calls daily about people being fearful."

Neighbors said the four-bedroom, single-family house in the gated
Briar Bay community was quiet, with comings and goings at night.
[Name redacted], [Name redacted] and [Name redacted] lived there and
[Name redacted], [Name redacted]'s girlfriend, visited often,
according to the complaint.

St. Lucie County investigators Friday cleared the owner of a red van
thought to have been used in the murders. [Name redacted], 23, of
Lake Worth, sold the van to [Name redacted] in August but never
removed his license plat, and [Name redacted] never completed the
transfer of title.

Anyone with information on the killings should call the St. Lucie
County Sheriff's Office, 772-462-3230; Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers,
800-273-8477; or Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers, 800-458-8477.

Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.