Two men accused of posing as DTE Energy employees and killing a 72-year-old Rochester Hills man are headed for trial in Oakland County.

One of the suspects, Carlos Hernandez, fled to Louisiana and had outstanding warrants in Ohio when the fatal home invasion and robbery of jewelry store owner Hussein Murray occurred on the morning of Oct. 11, 2024. Hernandez and his accomplice, Joshua Zuazo, have been friends since childhood, according to court documents and hearing updates from ClickonDetroit.com.

Hernandez and Zuazo are charged with felony murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment and were bound over for trial this week. The alleged assailants entered the home of Hussein and Linda Murray after posing as DTE employees assigned to check out a gas leak. Once inside, they attacked and ultimately killed Hussein and restrained Linda with duct tape, according to the prosecutor.

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Hernandez was apprehended Oct. 12 near Shreveport, La., after a sheriff’s deputy recognized the vehicle used in the Rochester Hills robbery. Hernandez was booked for multiple warrants out of Ohio for armed robbery, as well as the homicide warrant out of Oakland County. The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office’s fugitive apprehension team arrested Zuazo in a traffic stop in Plymouth Township on Oct. 14 as previously reported by The Midwesterner.

The suspects will stand trial after Rochester Hills District Court Judge Laura Polizzi ruled there was probable cause for each charge.

“We have substantial evidence that has been admitted today,” Polizzi said during the hearing, according to The Detroit News. “Based upon all the testimony of these witnesses, based upon all the exhibits that have been entered, this prosecution has met their burden by a probable cause standard and this court finds probable cause the defendants committed a crime.”

Hussein Murray, 72, was the owner of Gold & Glitter Jewelry in Hamtramck. Police said they suspect Hernandez and Zuazo targeted Murray because of his business.

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Oakland County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Shauna Bryan testified that Hussein Murray had his jaw and neck bones broken. Murray died from compression to his neck. He had a broken hyoid bone that indicated someone put continued, sustained pressure on his neck to cause his death, she said.

Hussein Murray’s wife, Linda Murray, testified Tuesday that Hernandez and Zuazo came to their door in the 3700 block of Newcastle on the night of Oct. 10. The two men, caught on a home surveillance video, said they were DTE employees checking for a gas leak.

The couple turned the men away that night, but Murray allowed them inside the next morning and escorted them to the basement, Linda said. The two men posed as DTE employees and drove up in a white pickup truck with a DTE identifier and reflective vests.

Hussein Murray took the men to the basement, while Linda said she returned to the kitchen to continue making breakfast. She didn’t hear anything downstairs, she testified at the hearing.

The men came back upstairs 10 to 15 minutes later without her husband. Hernandez asked her where their safe and jewelry was, and she told him they did not have a safe and the jewelry was in a safety deposit box at the bank.

Hernandez then asked her if they had cash in the house and where it was. She asked Hernandez where her husband was, but the men didn’t answer, Linda testified. When she saw Zuazo come into the kitchen with blood on his vest, she started screaming.

Linda said Hernandez hit her in the face, sat her at the kitchen table, took her watch and phone away, and duct taped her wrists and ankles together. Zuazo went upstairs and ransacked the master bedroom looking for valuables. When Linda later went upstairs, she found the room to be in disarray, with missing jewelry, she said.

Linda testified she freed herself from the duct tape and called 911. She told deputies initially that she believed her husband may have been kidnapped, but his body was found in the basement.

Besides the neck injuries, Murray’s jaw was fractured and he had multiple cuts on his scalp, bruises on his head and bleeding under his scalp. The head injuries were consistent with using the butt of a gun to injure someone, Bryan said.

Hernandez allegedly told Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Wendell Smith that he was at the Murray’s home Oct. 10 and Oct. 11, but denied killing Hussein Murray or tying up Linda Murray. He originally denied being involved in the incident, but changed his mind after Smith showed him the Ring camera video.

Hernandez told Smith that someone gave him and Zuazo the Murray’s address and the DTE equipment and paperwork.

“When we asked him why only one victim was killed, he became irate and yelled ‘What do you mean why was only one killed? It wasn’t supposed to go down like that,’” Smith said in court.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald called it a “gruesome attack on an elderly couple” when she initially charged Hernandez with felony murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment.