German Posadas-Hermenegildo, a 22-year-old from Bloomingburg, plead guilty this week to the murder of Venancio Garcia-Arquimides and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Hermenegildo appeared in the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas Tuesday with his attorney, Kathryn Hapner, March 7 — just eight days before the case was scheduled to go to trial. Hapner had raised the issue in January of whether Hermenegildo was competent to stand trial, but the motion for trial competency was overruled after a forensic psychologist determined his mental illness did not prevent him from standing trial.
Bloomingburg resident Venancio Garcia-Arquimides was found beaten to death inside his apartment July 20, 2016 at 11928 State Route 38 near Yatesville. Detectives with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office investigated the scene and found evidence to attach Hermenegildo to the murder. Blunt force trauma to the head was determined to be the cause of Arquimides’ death.
Witnesses who lived in the same apartment building as Arquimides testified that he and Hermenegildo had a prior conflict, and according to one witness, Hermenegildo was the only person to have a known problem with Arquimides.
Hermenegildo and his father, German Posadas-Cruz, fled Ohio after the murder and were picked up by Illinois State Police July 21 and extradited to the Fayette County Jail, where they were held until their plea and sentence hearings.
German Posadas-Cruz plead guilty to his role in Arquimides’ death and was sentenced Nov. 7, 2016 to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
During an informal hearing July 26, John Scott, Fayette County assistant prosecutor, said that photographs of evidence collected at the scene showed that boot patterns in the blood on the carpet in Arquimides’ apartment matched Hermenegildo’s boots. Hermenegildo’s attorney, Thomas J.C. Arrington, argued the boots are a popular style and the tread pattern is not direct evidence to link Hermenegildo to the murder.
Additional evidence, including cell phone text messages and location tracking data, corroborated Hermenegildo’s location to the scene at the time of the murder.
Hermenegildo is currently incarcerated at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient. His first parole board hearing is scheduled for June 2031.
