A 22-year-old Everett man was allegedly linked by a fingerprint and DNA evidence to a January murder in Everett and is now accused of luring the victim to a bike path, then shooting him in the head, Middlesex prosecutors said Wednesday.
Rigoberto Landaverde-Lemus appeared Wednesday in Malden District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the Jan. 2 death of 19-year-old Omar Wilfredo Reyes. He was ordered held without bail, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office.
He is the third person charged with playing a role in Reyes’s death, which prosecutors have said in the past may be connected to the violent gang known as MS-13.
The other defendants, Jose Vasquez Ardon and Cristian Nunez-Flores, pleaded not guilty in February and are being held without bail.
According to Ryan’s office, Ardon sent several messages to Reyes, asking him to meet on the night of Jan. 2. Reyes, who told his girlfriend he was being summoned to meet someone associated with MS-13, kept the appointment, despite fearing for his safety, prosecutors have said.
Reyes was met by three people underneath the Tileston Street Bridge behind Carter Street, prosecutors said. At around 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 3, police responded to a call and found the Everett man bleeding from gunshot to his head.
Police believe he was shot around 10:30 p.m.
Reyes was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Jan. 4.
Police recovered surveillance video from the area that prosecutors say depicts the meeting with Reyes and the three men. It later shows just the three men walking away, prosecutors said.
Landaverde-Lemus’s face is not visible in the surveillance video, but prosecutors said they used DNA testing and fingerprint evidence to match him to a set of clothes found in a plastic bag in Ardon’s basement. Two other plastic bags contained clothing linked by DNA to Ardon and Nunez-Flores, prosecutors say.
The clothing matches what the three suspects seen on surveillance video were wearing when Reyes was shot, authorities allege.
Landaverde-Lemus was arrested on gun charges by Chelsea police on June 26. While he was being held on bail, authorities obtained a DNA sample and his fingerprints, using them to match him to the physical evidence, prosecutors say.
“This case is an example of the determination and dedication of our investigators in pursuing every possible lead,’’ Ryan said in a statement. “We have learned that the defendants in this case allegedly lured the victim to the Tileston Street Bridge in Everett and fatally shot him.’’
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe. com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
