One suspect in Jorge Salomon Martinez's slaying a year ago has not been apprehended. The officer was off-duty when he was killed.

LUKE TURF

One year after the death of a U.S. Border patrol agent in Mexico, one suspect remains on the loose and three others await sentencing.

Jorge Salomon Martinez, 23, was killed Feb. 26, 2003, near Cananea, Son.

Mexican authorities are still searching for Jose Arturo Arreola Lopez, 18, who is wanted in connection with the slaying.

Lopez, who also is known as El Negro Sinaloa, is from the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

According to Saul Ballesteros, a district attorney for Sonora who is based in Cananea, Salomon's skull was crushed with a 50-pound boulder after he was beaten by three of the suspects.

One defendant, Edna Yabriz Montoya Medina, 22, reportedly told the other three, all men, that the might as well kill Salomon to avoid being prosecuted for the beating, Ballesteros said.

While Montoya awaits sentencing in a prison in Cananea, Ballesteros said the other two defendants, Juan Francisco Rosas Molina, 19, and Jesus Villa Villareal, 19, are in a prison in Nogales, Son.

A judge in a Sonora state court, Francisco Gomez, said all three pleaded guilty and could be sentenced during the next three months.

"I can't tell you what sentence is possible now," Gomez said.

Ballesteros said Molina, Villareal, Montoya and Lopez each would face 15 to 50 years in prison.

Ballesteros said Salomon picked up Lopez near Naco, Son., where he was hitchhiking after his release from a Bisbee jail.

Lopez had been held for more than three months on a marijuana-smuggling charge and an altercation reportedly began when Salomon inquired about Villareal's occupation.

Villareal told Salomon he was a smuggler, according to Ballesteros. When Salomon asked about his smuggling activities, another person warned Villareal not to talk to Salomon because he's a Border Patrol agent, Ballesteros said.

A fight ensued and Salomon was killed.

Salomon is survived by his wife and two young children. He had an apartment in Sierra Vista, but his family lives in Naco, Son.