SAN JOSE — Two men have been arrested and are accused of fatally shooting a man whose decomposing body was found inside an RV in North San Jose earlier this month, authorities said.
Michael Anaya, 30, and Marco Espinoza, 27, both of San Jose, were arrested in connection with the death of a man found in an RV in North San Jose on Jan. 11, 2024, after an autopsy determined the victim had been shot and declared the case a homicide. (Photo courtesy of the San Jose Police Dept.)
Michael Joseph Anaya, 30, and Marco Anthony Espinoza, 27, both of San Jose, were arrested Jan. 19 in connection with the death of 50-year-old Ernesto Mirabal, according to San Jose police and the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.
Mirabal’s body was found the night of Jan. 11 inside a recreational vehicle parked near Montague Expressway and Kruse Drive, just west of Interstate 880, police said. Responding officers, dispatched to the location after someone reported seeing what might be a dead body, could not immediately tell how Mirabal died “due to the level of decomposition” of his remains.
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An autopsy later found evidence of “physical trauma on the victim” and declared the death a homicide, police said on Jan. 17. The coroner’s office has since listed Mirabal’s cause of death as a gunshot wound on his torso and a head injury.
Detectives “quickly identified” Anaya and Espinoza as suspects in the killing, police said, and on Friday the department arrested the two in San Jose. Both men were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail and were being held without bail; they were criminally charged Tuesday.
Police have not released the circumstances of the death and a possible motive, citing the ongoing investigation.
The killing marked the third homicide of the year investigated by San Jose police.
Anyone with information about the death can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. J.J. Vallejo at [email protected], Detective Sgt. Joel Martinez at [email protected], or Detective Mike Harrington at [email protected]. Anonymous tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.
