AKRON, Ohio – A Copley man was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being convicted of killing three people and attempting to murder a fourth person.
According to Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich, Elias Gudino, 59, is eligible for parole after serving 23 years in prison. In October, a jury found Gudino guilty of six counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, kidnapping and several lesser charges.
During Wednesday's hearing, Assistant District Attorney Zach Neumann recommended that Gudino not be given a chance at parole.
“Gudino’s three murders were cold-blooded executions,” Neumann said, according to the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office. “He has a significant criminal history with a prior federal drug trafficking conviction for which he was serving time. Gudino does not deserve the possibility of parole.”
On March 9, 2023, Gudino and an unknown co-conspirator kidnapped four people from Youngstown and drove them to his home.
Gudino then brought 35-year-old Domingo Castillo-Reyes and an unidentified survivor to an empty field. Castillo-Reyes was found bound and gagged and had been shot in the back of the head. According to prosecutors, the other victim was wearing a skullcap and the bullet penetrated the skullcap and missed his head. The survivor played dead until Gudino left.
Gudino then drove Inmer Reyes, 25, and Victor Varela-Rodriguez, 31, to Cordova Avenue in Akron, where he fatally shot both of them and left their bodies on the side of the road.
The surviving victim was found after a caller reported to police a man soaked in the rain. The victim had difficulty speaking English but told officers he had been abandoned by his friends. Police said there was no evidence the man had broken any laws, so they took him to a homeless shelter in Akron.
Nearly two hours later, officers discovered Castillo-Reyes' body bound and gagged on Wright Road. They returned to the homeless shelter and took the victim to the police station.
According to police, the man was said to have been there with three other people when they were kidnapped the day before. After speaking with officers, Copley detectives drove around town with the victim and tried to find the house where he had been held, police said Monday.
The officers drove to an unknown gas station. There, the victim recognized Gudino in the store and “identified him as the suspect in his kidnapping,” police said.
“Elias Gudino kidnapped and terrorized four men before executing three of them at close range and nearly killing the fourth,” Kolkovich said in a statement. “His actions have no place in society and he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
