Two criminal illegal aliens from Mexico have been linked to a violent home invasion that involved sodomizing and ripping the fingernails off of a victim in Pitt County, North Carolina.
Zaid Mayen-Esteban, 21, and Jonathan David Garcia-Larios, 20, are each facing four felony charges for burglary, kidnapping, first-degree forcible sex offense, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury.
The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office continues to make additional arrests, announcing on Monday that five suspects have now been arrested on the same charges in connection to the Feb. 11 home invasion.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also lodged arrest detainers against the initial two suspects, Mayen-Esteban and Garcia-Larios, following their arrest by local authorities.
The suspects are accused of committing multiple serious crimes, including allegedly beating, sodomizing, and ripping the fingernails off of a man during the brutal home invasion, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.
“This is a real-life nightmare,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Zaid Mayen-Esteban and Jonathan David Garcia-Larios should have never been in this country.”
Deputies with the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported home invasion and assault at 3:16 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11, in a suburban neighborhood in Greenville, N.C.
According to local reports, it was described as a “targeted attack” that sent the victim to the hospital with injuries.
U.S. Marshals along with local law enforcement arrested the first two suspects on Friday, Feb. 13, according to the sheriff’s office news release.
“It is a complex and evolving investigation,” Sgt. Lee Darnell of the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office told the Daily Reflector after the initial arrests. “We are still actively investigating it and are limited on what can be said … but I can say that it was a targeted crime and was not random.”
The Pitt County Sheriff said detectives arrested a third suspect, 22-year-old John Carlos Calderon, on Monday, Feb. 16, and announced two more arrests on Monday, Feb 23.
Pedro Miguel Vivanco, 20, of Chapel Hill, N.C., was arrested at his residence. He is a U.S. Citizen, according to the sheriff’s office.
Kevin Eduardo Morales Lara, 24, of Carboro, N.C., was arrested at his residence. His citizenship status is being investigated.
According to jail records, Garcia-Larios is believed to be homeless and from Frankland, N.C. The arrest warrant listed his address as Virginia Beach, the Daily Reflector reported.
Mayen reportedly lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Investigators said they recovered evidence tied to the home invasion at an apartment in Chapel Hill, roughly two hours from the crime scene, Fox News Digital reported.
Mayen was booked into the Orange County Detention Center with no bond, the news release said. Vivanco and Lara are also being held in Orange County without bond.
After his arrest, Garcia-Larios was transferred to the Pitt County Detention Center, where he remains without bond alongside Calderon.
Detectives from the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office sheriff’s office’s major crimes and forensic service units responded to investigate. The investigation remains ongoing.
According to the arrest warrants for Mayen-Esteban and Garcia-Larios, the two men allegedly broke into the victim’s home with the intent of assaulting the victim. They used a sharp-edged weapon and restrained him against his will.
“The victim was unlawfully confined, restrained and forced to move from one place to another for the purpose of doing serious bodily injury, terrorizing him and facilitating the commission of a forcible sex offense,” according to the sheriff’s office.
DHS said they sodomized the victim and removed his fingernails. He was transported to a local hospital with injuries.
Prior to the alleged savage attack, the two men had no criminal record in the United States, DHS said.
The two suspects entered the country illegally at an unknown date and time. Garcia-Larios was previously removed in 2024 and committed a felony by illegally re-entering the country.
“Under Secretary Noem’s leadership we are not waiting for illegal aliens to commit crimes before we target them for arrest and removal,” McLaughlin said. “We pray for the continued recovery of this innocent victim.”
