GRANT COUNTY, Wash. — Moses Lake police detectives transported Juan Gastelm, 28, to the Grant County Jail Thursday afternoon from the Umatilla County Jail in Oregon.
According to Moses Lake police, Gastelum is being held on second degree murder and second-degree rape charges related to the death of Moses Lake resident Yanira Cedillos.
Cedillos was reported missing on March 4, 2022. After a lenghy investigation, Moses Lake police were able to find her body on May 12 in a remote area in Walla Walla County off Highway 12. Her body was then positively identified on May 16.
Gastelum was arrested in Hermiston a few days after Cedillos was reported missing and has been fighting extradition to Washington since then. Gastelum waived extradition on Wednesday, May 25, and detectives were able to pick him up on Thursday to face charges in Grant County.
Following questions regarding the charges against Gastelum, the Moses Lake Police Department released the following statement via Facebook:
There are a lot of questions about the potential charges in this case. Please understand, the current charges are what the prosecutor's office believed were justified to take the suspect into custody two months ago. Detectives are still in the process of gathering information and analyzing electronic data. When everything is complete, the prosecutor's office will assess the case as a whole as to what the appropriate charges are, and make a final charging decision. Also, please note that there are criteria for different degrees of murder and rape that we need to be able to prove. Just because a case is as horrific as this one, doesn't automatically make it first degree. The degree will be based on what the investigation shows can be proven about the defendant's conduct.