Brothers shot and killed; suspect remains at large

Bar ght cited as motive

and Katie Plona

Daily Staff Reporters

Brothers Roberto and Louis Rueda, ages 20 and 26, were found shot to death in their modest apartment complex, about 10 minutes from the University's Central Campus, yesterday morning.

The murders are the first to occur in Ann Arbor this year, Ann Arbor Police Department Deputy Chief Craig Roderick said last night.

MARGARET MYERS/Daily Detectives gather outside of 1125 Norman Pl., where two brothers were shot and killed yesterday morning. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.

The murder suspect, 26-year-old Milton Castillo, was still at large last night, and AAPD officers believe he is armed and dangerous. Roderick said AAPD does not know whether Castillo is still in Ann Arbor or if he has fled Michigan.

The Rueda brothers, neither of whom are University students, and Castillo lived in the Stadium Apartments complex on Stadium and Pauline boulevards, near Michigan Stadium. The mother of the Rueda brothers also lives in the complex, Roderick said. The brothers shared an apartment and did not live with Castillo, he said.

AAPD received a call from Castillo's roommate yesterday at 10:56 a.m. He found the gunshot victims' bodies in his apartment.

Roderick said police think the murder probably occurred around 10 a.m., shortly before Castillo's roommate called AAPD.

Roderick refused to elaborate, but said last night at a press conference at Ann Arbor City Hall that the alleged murder was most likely related to an altercation between the Rueda brothers and Castillo that took place at a bar about 10 days ago.

Late yesterday afternoon, AAPD police officers, with the help of Michigan state police officers, searched two apartments in the same building, which is located at 1125 Norman Pl. within the Stadium Apartments complex.

Concerned Stadium Apartments residents huddled in a small group outside the building late yesterday afternoon, watching the shadows of Northville Crime Laboratory investigators through the half-drawn vertical blinds in the windows of the second floor apartments.

Police also searched the building's roof for evidence with the aid of the Ann Arbor Fire Department.

Stadium Apartments resident Trevor Sowers, who lives next to the building where police were conducting their investigations yesterday, said the complex has a history of disturbances.

"At night there has been a lot of noise. I've actually called the police myself before" for noise and drinking violations, Sowers said.

The Stadium Apartments complex contains more than 10 individual units, which each hold six apartments, Sowers said. He said a lot of children live in his cluster of buildings.

"I've never felt unsafe in my own apartment," Sowers said, adding that when he leaves his apartment "it's always been shady out there."

Resident Ramani Kalpathi said he was shocked by the news of the alleged homicide.

"It makes me feel very unsafe that people are carrying guns in this place," Kalpathi said.

John Morrill, who moved out of the Stadium Apartments six months ago, said the apartments were not necessarily unsafe.

"Safe - yes. But not the clientele that we wanted to raise my son around," Morrill said.

AAPD sent an announcement to police agencies in other states and other areas of Michigan in search of Castillo.

"We put out our broadcast and we're hoping someone will respond," Roderick said.

Roderick described Castillo as a 5-foot-4-inch Latino male, weighing 180 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He drives a 1986 white Toyota sports car.

Roderick would not say how long the Rueda brothers and Castillo lived in Ann Arbor or if and where they were employed.

AAPD officials asked that anyone with information about the murders or information that might lead to Castillo's arrest call the AAPD's anonymous tip line at 996-3199.

- Daily Staff Reporter Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud contributed to this report.

11-16-98