First-degree murder charges have been filed in Wyandotte County District Court in the death of Mario Florencio Madruga and Delia Madruga, according to the Wyandotte County district attorney’s office.
The Madrugas, ages 89 and 85, died as a result of a vehicle crash at 1:45 p.m. Dec. 25 , 2020.
Jesse A. Acosta III was in a vehicle fleeing from police, according to the charges that were filed.
Acosta, besides the two counts of first-degree murder, also was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer from the ramming of the police vehicle, eluding a police officer and theft of a Ford F-250 pickup truck. Acosta, 26, is a resident of Kansas City, Kansas.
The Madrugas were the parents of Wyandotte County District Court Judge Delia York, and the mother-in-law and father-in-law of acting Police Chief Michael York.
The Kansas Highway Patrol crash log at the time stated that the truck was pursued by Kansas City, Kansas, police officers because it was a stolen vehicle that had rammed a police patrol vehicle near the 2500 block of Grandview Boulevard.
The Madrugas were in a Cadillac DTS that was stopped at a stop sign at 17th and Orville when it was struck by the stolen vehicle. The pickup truck ran a stop sign and hit the Cadillac on the driver’s side, forcing it into a nearby tree, the trooper’s report stated.
The Highway Patrol’s crash log listed Acosta as a passenger in the Ford pickup. The driver of the pickup was listed as Roberto Vallejo-Avelrya Jr., 22, of Kansas City, Kansas.