Worcester

2 indicted in shooting deaths of mother and 11-year-old girl in Worcester

Karel Mangual and Dejan Belnavis are charged in the deadly March 5 shooting of 27-year-old Chasity Nunez and her 11-year-old daughter, Zella, in Worcester, Massachusetts

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Two men have been indicted on murder charges in the shooting deaths of a woman and her 11-year-old daughter earlier this year in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Chasity Nunez, 27, and her daughter, Zella, were gunned down in a parked car March 5 on Englewood Avenue. They were brought to a hospital, where both were pronounced dead.

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One man, 28-year-old Karel Mangual, was arrested shortly after the shooting. After a manhunt that lasted nearly a week, 27-year-old Dejan Belnavis was arrested in San Diego.

U.S. Marshals took Dejan Dante Belnavis into custody in San Diego on Monday after a week on the run, while Karel Mangual was arrested shortly after the shooting deaths of 27-year-old Chasity Nunez and her 11-year-old daughter Zella. Follow NBC10 Boston on... Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston X: twitter.com/NBC10Boston

The Worcester County District Attorney's Office said Monday that a grand jury had indicted both men on two counts of murder.

Both were previously arraigned on murder charges in Worcester Central District Court, but the indictment moves their cases to Worcester Superior Court, where they are expected to be arraigned Wednesday.

Police said Belnavis, who had cut most of his hair off and was wearing glasses, did not try to run when authorities tracked him down in San Diego; no one was injured when he was arrested by U.S. Marshals near the Mexico border. It's unclear whether Belnavis was trying to make his way into Mexico.

Chasity Nunez and her 11-year-old daughter Zella were gunned down in their car last Tuesday in Worcester. Follow NBC10 Boston on... Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston X: twitter.com/NBC10Boston

Police have said in court documents that surveillance video shows “the victims parked in their vehicle and that two people walk up to the vehicle and start shooting.” Video also showed a car consistent with a witness description circling the area before the shooting and leaving afterward, the documents said. The vehicle was later found in Hartford, Connecticut.

Authorities have not released a potential motive for the killings or said whether there was any relationship between the men and the victims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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