Man Charged With Murder, Robbery In Johnston County Motel Shooting

JOHNSTON COUNTY – A Charlotte man wanted in connection with a fatal shooting at a Johnston County motel was arrested Friday at a hog farm in Pitt County following a nearly two-week investigation, according to the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office.

Jose Francisco Banegas-Quintanilla, 28, is charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

He is being held in the Johnston County Jail without bond.

The charges stem from the Oct. 11 death of Victor Manuel Martinez-Rivera, 37, of Charlotte.

Deputies were dispatched around 8:50 p.m. to the Super 8 Motel at 101 Leone Court, Garner, just off Interstate 40 in the Cleveland community. They found Martinez-Rivera dead inside a second-floor room with gunshot wounds. Johnston County EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.

Sheriff’s detectives began a homicide investigation and identified Banegas-Quintanilla as a suspect.

Investigators allege Banegas-Quintanilla fled the motel following the shooting in Martinez-Rivera’s vehicle.

Detectives tracked his movements from Johnston County to Charlotte and later east to Kinston, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The victim’s vehicle was later found abandoned in a business parking lot in Kinston.

Over the next two weeks, investigators conducted numerous interviews and reviewed extensive surveillance video as they worked to locate Banegas-Quintanilla.

On Friday, Oct. 23, detectives determined he was staying in a trailer on a hog farm in Pitt County and obtained a search warrant for the property.

With assistance from the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office and Greenville Police Department, Banegas-Quintanilla was located and taken into custody without incident, authorities said.

He was returned to Johnston County Friday night.

“This investigation involved a tremendous amount of old fashioned detective work, with detectives traveling back and forth across the state of North Carolina, following leads and interviewing multiple people. Our detectives never wavered until the murder suspect was in custody,” Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said.

The Sheriff’s Office also credited the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Wake County Sheriff’s Office, Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office, Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, Kinston Police Department, Greenville Police Department, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and North Carolina State Highway Patrol Air Wing Division with assisting in the investigation.

The case remains under investigation. The Sheriff’s Office said no additional information is being released at this time.