Fifth Person Charged In Homestead Teen's Murder

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A fifth person has been charged in the death of a Homestead teen who was hacked to death with a machete.

Miami-Dade detectives and U.S. Marshals arrested 23-year old Joseph Cabrera in St. Louis, Missouri.

Also charged with first degree murder in the June 2015 murder of 17-year-old Jose Amaya Guardado are 18-year old Desiray Strickland, 20-year-old Kaheem Arbelo, 18-year-old Jonathan Lucas and 19-year-old Christian Colon.

Guardado and the others were students at Homestead Job Corps, a live-in school and vocational training program for at-risk students run by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The group allegedly spent two weeks planning Guardado's death. A few days before they actually carried it out, they went into the woods near the Homestead Job Corps and allegedly dug a shallow grave.

On Sunday, June 28th, they lured Guardado into the woods and Arbelo ambushed him with a machete as the others watched, according to Strickland's arrest report. As Guardado lay dying on the ground, the group reportedly ordered him to crawl into the grave they had dug.

When Guardado made one last attempt to fight back, Arbelo struck him repeatedly again until his face caved in, according to the arrest report.

They then placed him in the grave and buried him. Noticing blood, they burned Guardado's belongings as well as their own clothes, according to police. They also got rid of the shovel and machete.

Strickland and Arbelo reportedly stayed in the woods and had sex until it was time to return the campus at Job Corp.