YAKIMA — At least five people have been indicted in connection with the death of Rosenda Strong and her accused killer on the Yakama Reservation.
U.S. District Court records show that Uriel Balentin Badillo, Joshawa Max Estrada, Wilson Louis Hunt, Michael Lee Moody and Andrew Norris Zack have been named as defendants in the case, either charged as accessories after the fact or with kidnapping resulting in death for Jedidah Iesha Moreno.
Authorities said Moreno shot Strong to death shortly after she was last seen in 2018, according to the indictment. Moreno was killed the next day, the document said.
Estrada was arraigned Friday morning in U.S. District Court, while Hunt and Zack are scheduled to be arraigned next week. Moody will have a detention hearing next week.
Strong, who was Umatilla and Yakama, was 31 when she disappeared and was a mother of four.
The case is significant in Washington because it is part of ongoing efforts to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women. Cissy Strong Reyes, Rosenda’s sister, and brother Chris have organized regular vigils and events on the Yakama Reservation and spoken out publicly in an effort to get answers.
The family also has advocated for other families of missing and murdered people in the region.
Reyes said Friday she was glad that those who were involved are being held accountable, and that she was pleased by the efforts of investigators in the case.
“This is something me and my family have been advocating for,” she said. “It’s almost been five years of doing it and not giving up. And we will continue to be her voice and stand in every courtroom and hearing to support my sister.”
The indictment
The case is in the federal court system because Strong, Zack and Hunt are Native Americans and the killings occurred on the Yakama Reservation.
The nine-page indictment provides details on the deaths of Strong and Moreno.
Moody, a 42-year-old transient, Hunt, 44, of Toppenish and Zack, 42, of Wapato, are charged as accessories after the fact in Strong’s death, while Badillo, a 39-year-old West Valley resident, is charged with kidnapping resulting in Moreno’s death. Estrada, 25, of Wapato, is charged with being an accessory after the fact in Moreno’s death.
Badillo was not in custody as of Friday afternoon, according to Yakima County jail records, while federal court records show no scheduled hearings for him.
Strong went missing in late September 2018 after getting a ride with an acquaintance to Legends Casino Hotel near Toppenish.
Strong was arguing with Moreno at a home on Wapato Road referred to as the “House of Souls” on Oct. 5, 2018. Moreno fired several shots at Strong, killing her, the indictment said. Moreno, who was still armed, “requested” that Moody, Zack, Hunt and others assist in covering up the killing.
Moody and the others placed Strong in a freezer, putting the freezer in the back of Zack’s truck and dumping it where it was found in 2019, the indictment said.
Authorities released Strong’s body to her family, and she was buried next to her mother at the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon on Sept. 25, 2021.
Moreno killed
Moreno was at home off Branch Road near Wapato the next day when she shot Zack’s hand in a garage on the property. Others at the scene locked the garage doors to prevent her from going back in the structure.
Badillo came to the house, took Moreno to the House of Souls, then brought her back to Estrada’s home, where she was bound with a cargo strap and duct tape before being put in the trunk of a Chevrolet Impala, the indictment said.
Badillo fired several shots from a .45-caliber pistol into the Impala’s trunk, striking Moreno multiple times.
Two juveniles then drove the Impala to another location where they dumped her body, and one of them shot Moreno multiple times.
The next day, Estrada and others moved Moreno’s body to where it would be found, and a juvenile with them fired several shots from a .22-caliber firearm into the body, the indictment said.
Her remains were found Nov. 28, 2018.
The Impala was dumped into a pond on Oct. 31, 2018, where it was found and recovered by the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 6, 2019.
Court hearing
At Estrada’s arraignment Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Murphy argued for Estrada to remain in custody, citing Estrada’s prior convictions, past failures to appear at scheduled court hearings, the fact that his home was a crime scene in the current case.
Defense attorney Greg Scott asked that Estrada be released while awaiting trial or allowed to go into a residential drug treatment program. Scott said the prior convictions were “remote in time,” going back from 2017 to 2020, and that given the nature of the charges against him and substance abuse issues, he would be safer at his own home or in treatment.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Alexander Eckstrom ordered Estrada detained, finding that there were concerns for community safety if Estrada were free from jail. He also gave Scott the option to present a drug-treatment placement plan for Estrada at a later date.
During the hearing, Estrada glared at Reyes, who was sitting in the courtroom gallery, prompting Eckstrom to order him to not stare into the gallery. Scott had Estrada join him at the podium before Eckstrom.
Other cases
Strong is one of dozens of missing and murdered Indigenous people on the Yakama Reservation. As of May, the Washington State Patrol reported 33 Indigenous people missing in Yakima County, the highest in the state.
The indictments follow news this week in the case of Destiny Lloyd, who was last seen on Christmas Day 2017. Her body was later found on a rural part of the Yakama Reservation. Tahsheena Stacie Sam, 32, of White Swan was arraigned in U.S. District Court on charges of first-degree murder in a case authorities said stemmed from a robbery.
Lloyd was a child care worker at Legends Casino Hotel in Toppenish.
