Brian and Ronald Yates Murders: How Did Brandon Hutchinson Die? – Brandon Hutchison, Michael Salazar, Ronald and Brian Yates, and other partygoers remained in the garage after Freddie and Kerry Lopez’s New Year’s Eve party ended, and they went to bed. Later, Freddie Lopez was called by Hutchison and Salazar. He noticed the Yates brothers on the ground when he entered the garage. The brothers’ autopsies revealed they had been shot at close range but were still alive when Lopez discovered them.
In October 1996, Brian Hutchison, who was 21 at the time, was found guilty on two charges of first-degree murder in the killings of Brian Yates, 30, and Ronald Yates, 35, both residents of Aurora.
Freddy Lopez and Michael Salazar, both from Verona, were charged with further offences in the case. After a New Year’s Eve celebration, the brothers were shot at Lopez’s car shop in Verona, according to court testimony.
In the Netflix documentary, ‘I Am A Killer,’ Brian Hutchison spills all, giving the events as most people remember them a fresh viewpoint. If you want to read more about him and the reason for his death, keep reading.
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How Did Brian and Ronald Yates Die?
In the garage next to their home, Freddie Lopez and his wife, Kerry Lopez, hosted a modest New Year’s Eve celebration on December 31, 1995.
Just after midnight, Ronald and Brian Yates showed up for the gathering. Tim Yates, their brother, had already left, so they were looking for him. They were encouraged to linger for a few beers by Freddie Lopez.
Hutchison was among the partygoers who grew inebriated during the event. Ronald Yates and Freddie Lopez shared a methamphetamine supply. When Hutchison unexpectedly punched another visitor, Jeremy Andrews, he created a slight commotion. Andrews also saw Hutchison pointing his hand toward the Yates brothers.
Kerry Lopez and Freddie Lopez entered the home at around 4:00 a.m. to resume their fight about Kerry’s alcohol use that they had started in the garage. Only Hutchison, Michael Salazar, Ronald and Brian Yates remained in the garage when several partygoers left to go home.
Twenty minutes later, Hutchison burst through the door of the Lopez family’s bedroom and slammed it, claiming “something horrible had happened in the shop.” From the porch, Salazar yelled for Freddie Lopez.
Salazar was clutching a.25 caliber handgun as Lopez emerged. He admitted to shooting someone to Lopez. When he entered the garage, Lopez noticed the Yates brothers lying on the ground. Salazar informed Lopez that he had been stabbed by one of the brothers.
The brothers’ autopsies reveal that they were shot with a.25 calibre gun at point blank range. Ronald Yates was paralysed from the waist down by the bullet he was shot with. Both a very mild chest wound and a more critical stomach trauma were caused by gunfire for Brian Yates.
Even though both brothers were still alive, according to medical evidence, Lopez stated that he observed Ronald Yates gasp when he discovered the brothers lying on the garage floor.
According to murderpedia, Hutchison stated that Ronald Yates was already dead and urged no one to call an ambulance. Then he proposed they drive Lopez’s white Honda Accord out of the garage with the brothers.
Salazar and Hutchison placed Brian Yates on top of Ronald Yates in the trunk after Hutchison had dragged Ronald by his shoulders, knocked him to the ground, and kicked him in the upper torso. In the meantime, Salazar entered the house to retrieve a drug scale and a.22 calibre revolver, all of which he placed in the car. Hutchison was the driver as the three men departed in the vehicle.
They stopped on the side of a rural road after briefly travelling. Salazar and Hutchison exited the vehicle and made their way to the trunk. Lopez stated that Hutchison exclaimed, “We’ve got to kill them, we’ve got to kill them,” while holding a.22 calibre revolver as he got out of the car.
Following multiple gunshots, Lopez heard Hutchison and Salazar re-enter the vehicle. Lopez stated that when Hutchison returned to his seat, he was holding the revolver.
The bodies of Ronald and Brian Yates were discovered on the side of the road at 8:00 a.m. Both have passed away from .22 calibre gunshot wounds to the head, similar to an execution. Ronald Yates had taken gunshot wounds to the back of his skull and each eye. Brian Yates suffered right eye and right ear injuries.
A few days later, Hutchison and Salazar were captured in California.
How Did Brandon Hutchinson Die?
After being found guilty on two charges of first-degree murder, Brandon Hutchison was given the death penalty. In 1997, this Court upheld the convictions and sentences. He then applied for postconviction relief, claiming, among other things, that the prosecution had made a bargain with the state’s star witness, Freddy Lopez, either before or during the trial. However, both Lopez and the prosecutor denied making a deal during the trial. Hutchison was not given a chance by the motion court to offer proof in support of this claim. Hutchison appeals to the motion court’s denial of the postconviction remedies he sought.
Additionally, it was assumed that his inability to pay for stronger legal representation had hurt his claim. They testified Freddie Lopez, one of the defendants in the slaying of the Yates brothers, to support their position. With the victims’ families, Lopez had reached a $230,000 settlement on wrongful death claims, and thanks to his plea deal, he was given a less prison term. After a fresh hearing in 2011, Hutchinson’s sentence was lowered to life in prison without the possibility of release.
He had been serving time at the South Central Correctional Facility in Licking, Missouri, where he had been According to the authorities, 44-year-old Brandon Hutchison passed away at the Licking state prison from natural causes.
Jesse Yates stated, “I don’t wish death on anybody, but two great men had their lives taken over ignorance.”
Jesse Yates and his family reside in Aurora, the same city where his uncles Ronald and Brian Yates spent their formative years. When his uncles were killed, Jesse was only 15 years old.
“I looked up to them a lot,” Yates remarked.
Two of his uncles’ five brothers, according to Yates, were. Even who had been killed was unclear on the day of the incident, claims the witness.
Yates recalled, “Back then, things like that just really didn’t happen around here, so it was very shocking,”
