True Crime
A Summit County judge ordered Marcos Huerta-Garcia held without bond in the Barberton basement stabbing case.
Cleveland19, WKYC, and the Barberton Gazette reported that on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, Summit County Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce ordered Marcos Antonio Huerta-Garcia, 35, held without bail after he pleaded not guilty to murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery, and gross abuse of a corpse in the death of Yesli Yanet Vazquez Cruz, 26.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
Friday's arraignment is the first Common Pleas appearance after the Sept. 5 border arrest. A not-guilty plea and a no-bond order are charging-stage steps. They are not a conviction. A pretrial is set for Nov. 23.
Cleveland19 (WOIO), WKYC, and the Barberton Gazette reported that on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, Summit County Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce arraigned Marcos Antonio Huerta-Garcia, 35, and ordered him held without bond. He pleaded not guilty to murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery, and gross abuse of a corpse in the killing of Yesli Yanet Vazquez Cruz, 26. Coverage said he is due back Nov. 23 for a pretrial.
According to Barberton police accounts summarized by Cleveland19, officers responded Sept. 4, 2026, to a missing-person report for Cruz at a home in the 1500 block of Wooster Road West. Investigators and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation later found her body in the basement with multiple stab wounds, and police said the body had been partially buried. On Sept. 5, Huerta-Garcia was arrested near the Arizona-Mexico border after authorities said he was trying to flee the country. Barberton Public Information Officer Marty Eberhart said U.S. Marshals, Arizona DPS, and other agencies made the arrest about 90 minutes after the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force was notified.
Cleveland19 reported Huerta-Garcia is from Zapotitlán Tablas in Guerrero, Mexico, and that police said he had been living and working at the Wooster Road home with the victim. A Yuma County Sheriff's Office booking photograph circulated with the Friday coverage. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Huerta-Garcia pleaded not guilty Friday; the charges remain accusations the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
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