Six witnesses testified Monday on day three of the trial of Luis Soriano and Julio Soriano, and the last account the court heard came from the first police officer on scene. Erin Mahon was in court until about 3:30 p.m. as body camera footage from that officer showed several bodies on the floor in the basement.
The testimony gave the jury its clearest look yet at the scene prosecutors say followed the killings of Evangeline Ubaldo-Moreno, Sebastian Ubaldo-Moreno, Fraime Ubaldo and Marangely Moreno Santiago. The brothers face charges including first-degree murder, arson, kidnapping and burglary, and prosecutors say the deaths came after a missing package of drugs delivered to the Knapp Avenue home.
That theory was pressed through witness after witness. A coworker said Luis Soriano appeared nervous in the days after the murders and asked the coworker to book a plane ticket for him. An investigator said phone records showed Marangely Moreno Santiago was having an affair with a man named Alberto, and that records also showed the two had stolen cocaine together.
Defense lawyers used the same testimony to push back on the state’s account. They argue the proof will show a package was taken from Knapp Ave and that Marangely Moreno Santiago was involved in collecting cocaine, a version of events that shifts blame away from the brothers’ alleged motive. They also asked for a mistrial after prosecutors used the word “slaughtered,” but the judge denied that request, leaving the case to continue in front of the two separate juries hearing it.
The fight over language reflects the larger problem for both sides: the case is not only about what was found in the basement, but about what led there. Prosecutors say Luis Soriano believed Ubaldo, his cousin, stole the package of drugs. The defense says the evidence will point somewhere else. The next witness may matter less for drama than for one question now driving the trial — whether the killings were retaliation over a missing package, or whether the state still has to prove that link beyond the testimony already heard.
