Gregory Bender may have gotten away with the murder of Patrick De La Cerda if he’d emptied his own trash

“Wait for confirm that he is alone. Then turn off cell phones.”

This observe was written on a balled-up piece of paper, sitting on the prime of the trash pile in the house of a suspected killer. Detectives have been in disbelief. This unburied treasure was a key piece of proof that they wanted to convict their prime suspect of murder.

In February 2018, 25-year-old Patrick De La Cerda was shot 4 instances in an ambush-style assault by an murderer. Detective Chad Weaver of the Volusia County Florida, Sheriff’s Office who investigated the case, described the killer as “lying in wait.”

Detective Weaver believes De La Cerda was gunned down when he got here to his entrance door anticipating to obtain a package deal containing an engagement ring for his fiancée Jessica Devnani.

“You could see the front door was open, there was glass all over the place,” Weaver advised “48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant in an interview for “The Ring: The Murder of Patrick De La Cerda,” airing Saturday, July 9 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. At first the detective thought “this is probably going to be a whodunit.”

 
The case modified rapidly when Devnani pointed investigators to the man she believed was answerable for De La Cerda’s murder: her jealous ex-boyfriend, Gregory Bender.

Devnani advised Weaver that Bender had been tormenting her and Patrick for months, leaving threatening voicemails and textual content messages. Afraid, Devnani had taken these threats to a choose, who issued a restraining order in opposition to Bender. He was ordered to show over his intensive gun assortment. For a number of months, she stated his threats and messages stopped.

Until the morning of February 27, 2018, when Devnani acquired her first cellphone name from Bender in months. She didn’t reply, however instantly knew one thing was not proper. She rushed to De La Cerda’s home, however when she arrived, her fiancé had already been shot, and was lifeless on the floor.

Weaver believed he had a suspect, however there was not sufficient proof at the crime scene to arrest Gregory Bender for murder. It was a tip from Bender’s ex-wife, Daymara Sanchez, that gave Weaver what he wanted to construct a case in opposition to him.

Sanchez, who Weaver realized was nonetheless married to Bender throughout the time he was courting Devnani, requested to satisfy with the detective in a secluded parking space. “She was nervous,” Weaver recalled. She had extra incriminating proof in opposition to Gregory Bender to share.

Sanchez advised Detective Weaver that she had seen a news report of Patrick’s murder, and that it sounded similar to some notes that she had discovered written in a spiral pocket book that belonged to Bender. She advised Weaver that when she had questioned Bender about his pocket book, he had assured her that the disturbing notes have been all simply his “fantasy.” But, to Detective Weaver, this “fantasy” Sanchez remembered sounded quite a bit like the very actual murder of De La Cerda.

Weaver says Sanchez’s tip gave police possible trigger to look Bender’s home. “Once she told us about the murder plan, that gave us what we needed to get into the house,” stated Weaver, however he was uncertain the doable killer would have stored this apparent piece of proof.

On February 28, 2018, Weaver and his group of investigators entered Bender’s house in Windemere, Florida, to execute their search warrant. Almost instantly after coming into Bender’s five-bedroom home, Weaver noticed what did seem to be a fantasy. There, in the suspect’s house workplace, Weaver noticed the pocket book pages Sanchez had described.

“I was in shock,” stated Weaver. “There’s no way that we just found this murder plan.”

There, on a number of crumpled-up items of paper sitting at the prime of Bender’s trash bin, have been the particulars of his elaborate plot to kill Patrick De La Cerda.

“The first thing I wanted to do was reach in the trash can, grab it, and read the whole thing,” Weaver stated, however he knew this wanted to be bagged as essential proof.

 The notes have been full with De La Cerda’s deal with, sketches of his property, and notes on how you can enter and exit the premises with out being detected.

The notes learn partially, “… dispose of clothes, plate, tracker, gloves.” It appeared Bender had accounted for the elimination of virtually all proof, however one oversight in his plan was neglecting to dispose of the notes.

Also present in his house have been ammunition and a shell casing which matched these discovered at the crime scene. These bits of trash have been invaluable, and testimony from each Sanchez and Devnani, alongside with mobile phone proof and the discovery of the ammunition helped to persuade the jury that Bender’s musings have been greater than mere fantasy.

On May 28, 2021, Gregory Bender was discovered responsible of first-degree murder. Bender’s attorneys say the search of his house was unlawful and plan to attraction the conviction, however he’s now in jail serving a life sentence with no risk of parole.

The destiny of this killer was decided by the truths of the girls he had deceived, justice for a jealous murder, and a neglect to empty his own trash.