On the Case with Paula Zahn on Investigation Discovery takes a closer look at the case of Firefighter David Madrigal, who was murdered by Timmy Lynn Soto, Christian Rasnick, and Nicole O’Neill.
On December 21, 2015, Madrigal’s son went to his home on Vaughn Street in Detroit, Michigan, and found the 59-year-old dead inside his bedroom.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Madrigal’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. The 26-year Detroit Fire Department veteran was deemed to have been asleep when he was beaten to death with a gym weight plate.
Police said after Soto, Rasnick, and O’Neil murdered Madrigal and ransacked his home, they also stole a safe containing $1,000 in cash.
They then took his vehicle and drove it to the 3800 block of Bangor and set it on fire.
Firefighters later discovered the vehicle still ablaze.
An investigation led to Soto, Rasnick, and O’Neill’s arrests.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelApparently, the trio knew the firefighter as they had befriended him before murdering him in cold blood.
During the trial, Soto apologized to Madrigal’s family as well as to his own children.
Soto pled guilty to second-degree murder.
Wayne Circuit Judge Michael Callahan sentenced him to 38 to 80 years in prison with an additional two years for a weapons charge.
Rasnick pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison.
O’Neill was sentenced to 20 to 50 years in prison.
On the Case with Paula Zahn — A Hero Betrayed, airs at 10pm on Investigation Discovery.