Iris Yudella Alonzo-Salgado

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

A teenager who was driven from New Jersey to Maryland, marched into the woods, gagged, and hacked to death with a machete at the direction of MS-13 — and was found four months later in a shallow grave, according to Montgomery County prosecutors.

In Montgomery County, a judge has convicted 24-year-old Iris Yudella Alonzo-Salgado for her role in the murder of 18-year-old Rosa Sanchez Merino, whose grisly death made national headlines.

Alonzo-Salgado is one of four charged in connection with the death of the teen in May 2023.

According to court documents, Alonzo-Salgado and three others drove Sanchez Merino from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Maryland, where the harrowing murder took place.

Sanchez Merino was marched to a wooded area in Olney, where she was gagged. The four then forced her to her knees, and she was stabbed to death with a machete.

The body was then dumped in a freshly dug grave. Her remains were not found for four months.

Prosecutors said that the case broke in late September 2023, when admitted MS-13 gang member - and co-defendant - Roberto Rivera-Delgado led members of the Montgomery County Department of Police to a wooded area along Brookeville Road in Olney, where they uncovered Sanchez Merino's skeletal remains.

Detectives confirmed with family that Sanchez Merino had been missing, and noted that the clothes found in the grave matched the clothing she wore in photos before her disappearance, according to the charging documents.

Rosa Sanchez Merino

Rosa Sanchez Merino

Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office

Investigators said that during his interview, Rivera-Delgado admitted he was a member of the Mara Salvatrucha criminal street gang, MS-13. 

He told detectives he believed he had fallen out of good standing with the gang after participating in what he called an unauthorized murder. He identified two female MS-13 members — including Alonzo-Salgado — and one unidentified man as participants.

Rivera-Delgado stated that all of them were in a car he was driving while searching for a location “to commit the murder.” 

Court documents state he said he knew the wooded area in Olney and drove there.

Once they arrived, he told detectives that the group led Sanchez Merino into the woods and “placed her on her knees.” He said they used a machete and “all took turns striking” her in the neck. After the killing, they dug a shallow grave and buried her, according to the statement of charges.

An autopsy performed on Oct. 1, 2023, concluded the manner of death was homicide, caused by sharp force injuries.

Alonzo-Salgado was found guilty of:

  • First-degree murder;
  • Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder;
  • Participating in a criminal organization resulting in death.

Rivera-Delgado previously pleaded guilty to the same charges and is awaiting sentencing. A third defendant, Aracely Abarca-Melgar, is pending trial. The identity of the fourth has not been released due to his age.

When she is sentenced in January 2026, Alonzo-Salgado will face two life sentences, plus an additional 25 years in prison.