AKRON, Ohio — On day four of the trial against Elias Gudino in Akron Monday, prosecutors played the interview Copley police detectives conducted with him the day after four men were kidnapped and three of them murdered in 2023.
Police approached Gudino at a gas station in Copley on March 10, after the surviving victim identified him as the man who shot him. Gudino allowed detectives to search his truck, where they found a receipt for rope from Home Depot.
Detectives didn't tell Gudino why they wanted to talk to him, but he agreed to go the police station, and less than 24 hours after the kidnappings and killings, officers were questioning him. It didn't take long for them to accuse him of lying.
"Tell me what you've been doing for the last 24 hours" a detective can be heard asking Gudino in the video.
Gudino told them he went to Home Depot, and after several questions about what he bought and how many, he insisted he bought one rope. What Gudino didn't know at the time was that police already had surveillance video from March 9, showing him buying two packages of rope at the store in Copley.
"I got the receipt right here," one detective tells the suspect. "This is your company card, OK? Everything's recorded."
Gudino eventually admitted to playing a part in the kidnappings and murders, but he claimed he did it with a gun to his head and didn't pull the trigger on the victims. Later, and since from the start of the trial, Gudino and his attorneys would argue a cartel threatened to kill his family if he didn't play a part, but if he was afraid, he didn't tell police during the interview.
"I think you want to explain to me what's going on," one detective said, before asking, "Are you afraid? Are you afraid for some reason?"
"No," Gudino responded.
Prosecutors argue — and the surviving victim testified in the trial — that Gudino was calling the shots that night when he and an accomplice kidnapped four roommates and took them to Summit County where Gudino shot and killed three of them. The fourth played dead and escaped.