UPDATE: 3 More Arrests Made; Facebook Used by Murder Suspects to Lure Victim

(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) GAITHERSBURG, MD — Three more people with ties to the Latin American MS 13 gang have been arrested as part of a plan by teenagers who used Facebook chats to lure a New Jersey man to his death in Montgomery County, Maryland, authorities say. The victim's remains were found Nov. 12, 2016, in a shallow grave in the Gaithersburg area, roughly a month after he was reported missing.

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department on Jan. 2 arrested two suspects for the murder of Jordy Mejia, 22, of Guttenberg, New Jersey. Mejia’s body was found by hikers in a shallow grave in a wooded area in the 11500 block of Game Preserve Road. Detectives released photos of the shirt and shoes similar to the ones the victim was wearing when his body was found, which helped identify Mejia.

Authorities have not said how Mejia died.

The two suspects, Neris Moreno, 19, of West New York, New Jersey, and Jackelin Leiba-Esperanza, 16, of Brentwood, Maryland, were arrested Monday in Silver Spring. They have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and are being held without bond. Leiba-Esperanza has been charged as an adult.

Three additional suspects were arrested Wednesday in Montgomery County and charged with Mejia's murder. They are: Reynaldo A. Granados-Vasquez, 21, of Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg; Jose Israel Melendez-Rivera, 18, of Lost Knife Circle in Montgomery Village; and Katerine Solorzano-Aparicio, 17, of Hyattsville.

All three were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Solorzano-Aparicio has been charged as an adult. The three suspects are being held without bond, police said.

Mejia's murder appears to be connected to the MS-13 street gang, police said.

Prosecutors said in court Wednesday that Moreno and Leiba-Esperanza are extreme flight risks because they are recent immigrants who are in the country illegally. Leiba-Esperanza and her mother had fled violence in El Salvador, The Washington Post reports.

According to charging documents, on Oct. 15, Mejia told his mother he was going to Maryland to see a girl he had met on Facebook, and he planned to return the next day. The charging documents say Mejia’s Facebook account showed long talks with someone identifying themselves as Shaila Smith. Three days after Mejia left for Maryland, his mother filed a missing person report when she had not heard from him.

Police say the Facebook conversation showed Mejia was lured to Germantown to meet the fictitious girl. Mejia arrived in Montgomery County, where he was killed and buried. Authorities have not said what the motive for the murder was beyond a link to gang activities.

A phone number the person gave Mejia, along with phone records, led police to Moreno, who was living with Leiba-Esperanza for several months, WTOP reports.

»Photos of murder suspect Neris Moreno, Reynaldo A. Granados-Vasquez, and Jose Melendez-Rivera, courtesy of Montgomery County Police