WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - One of three suspects in the death of a man whose body was found burned in bubble wrap in the woods in Worcester earlier this month will be arraigned Friday on a murder charge, authorities announced.
Rafael Guzman, 35, of Worcester, is slated to appear in Worcester Central District Court less than a week after he pleaded not guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact in the death of 30-year-old Benjamin Pacheco, according to Worcester County District Attorney Tim Connolly.
Primitivo Matos, 35, and Daniel Rivera, 27, are also facing accessory after the fact charges. They were both arraigned last week.
Authorities responding to a report of a blaze in the woods near 277 Granite St. around 6 a.m. on Sept. 10 “found a burning human body in a grassy area,” according to the documents.
Police say there was “evidence that he [the victim] may have been wrapped in bubble wrap packing material and a blanket.”
An autopsy later revealed that Pacheco had suffered a “sharp penetrating wound” to the neck and that his manner of death was a homicide.
Before firefighters found the victim’s flaming body, police say surveillance video in the area showed a suspicious car driving up and down Granite Street, and at one point “stopping in the area of the crime scene for several minutes, suggesting that it was the vehicle involved in dropping off the body and burning it.”
Surveillance cameras at the Great Brook Valley housing development captured video of Guzman walking into the building on the morning of Sept. 10 with a large roll of plastic bubble wrapping material, police said in the documents.
Guzman, Matos, and Rivera were then allegedly seen on video carrying a “‘body-length” bundle wrapped in the packaging material, leaving the building, and putting it in the trunk of a car that had been reportedly loaned to Guzman.
Guzman’s car was again seen on surveillance video traveling down Granite Street shortly before the body was found.
Police say Guzman was a “known associate” of Pacheco and that the two men had briefly hung out on Sept. 9.
Guzman’s attorney said his client is related to Pacheco and that he was not involved in the murder.
Pacheco was a native of Puerto Rico and a “well-known” music producer known as “Benny Beats,” according to his obituary.
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