Another man was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the 2022 Shore Road double murder, the NYPD reported this week.
Rahul Cuya — a 24-year-old Bronxite — was arrested on March 12 and charged with two counts each of murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, arson and criminal use of a firearm for his alleged role in the killings. He was also booked on charges of robbery, grand larceny and criminal possession of a weapon, police reported.
This comes a full year after the Bronx District Attorney’s office indicted Manhattan man Jahmel Sanders for the double murder near Pelham Bay Park in May 2022. The suspects are accused of shooting then- 22-year-olds Nikki Huang and Jesse Parrilla execution-style in a car, then setting the car on fire with their bodies inside.
According to Sanders’ indictment from the District Attorney’s office last year, the investigation states that around 9:30 p.m. on May 15, 2022, Huang told friends “who are alleged gang members” that someone stole her purse in Manhattan. The DA’s announcement states that about two hours later, a man — who was not named in the announcement — was shot and killed in Manhattan. The DA’s office did not specify a connection between Huang and her friends and the person killed in Manhattan.
Then, at around 1:20 a.m. on May 16, 2022, Parrilla allegedly dropped Huang off near her home on the Lower East Side in his mother’s Honda Accord, the information from the DA’s office states. Afterward, Sanders and accomplices allegedly approached Parrilla, moved him to another car, and took the Accord.
About 20 minutes later Huang was allegedly “lured” out of her home and taken in Parrilla’s mother’s car, according to the DA’s investigation. A little while later, Sanders and accomplices were allegedly involved in a shooting in Queens with Parrilla and Huang present, before traveling to the Bronx. The DA’s office did not specify to what extent Sanders and his accomplices were involved in the Queens shooting.
At around 4:15 a.m. that same morning, Parrilla’s mother’s Honda Accord was found in flames near 870 Shore Road, outside Pelham Bay and Split Rock Golf Courses in the Bronx. When firefighters arrived on the scene, the car was engulfed in flames.
Huang suffered bullet wounds to her head and neck, and Parrilla suffered bullet wounds to his head and chest, and their bodies “were burned almost to ash,” according to the DA’s office.
Cops had been searching for Sanders since July 2022, soon after the murders took place.
According to Cuya’s arrest announcement this week, investigators are still searching for another man, 34-year-old Steven Santiago, who they think is connected with the case.
Police issued a combined $10,000 reward between CrimeStoppers and the NYPD for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for the double murder.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
