Woman is 2nd person charged in deadly MacArthur Road parking lot shooting

WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A woman who lived with the man charged this month with the fatal shooting of a man in a parking lot off MacArthur Road also has been charged with homicide.

Liz Pacheco, 37, of Allentown, is charged with homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, aggravated assault-attempting to cause serious bodily injury and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault — all first-degree felonies.

Pacheco was arraigned Friday and is in Lehigh County Prison without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Dec. 26.

She is charged in the Dec. 7 death of Hector Manuel Garcia Gomez, 46 of Palmerton, Carbon County. Garcia Gomez died of gunshot wounds to the torso, Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio ruled.

The announcement of Pacheco's arrest came in a release from Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks.

Police said Pacheco lived with Christian Martinez-Ramos, 35, who was charged earlier in the killing.

Garcia Gomez apparently was having an affair with Martinez-Ramos' and Pacheco's neighbor, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Details of shooting

Holihan said that at 6:03 p.m. Dec. 7, Whitehall police responded to a shooting in the parking lot of Loco Hot Deals, at 1155 MacArthur Road.

Officers found Garcia Gomez with multiple gunshot wounds to his abdomen and he was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead, the release said.

The affidavit of probable cause said video surveillance showed Garcia Gomez’s vehicle arriving at the store.

While Garcia Gomez’s wife, Brenda Rodriguez, stayed inside the car, on her cell phone talking with Pacheco, Garcia Gomez went into the store for several minutes, authorities said.

As he did, Martinez-Ramos’s vehicle pulled into the parking lot.

As Garcia Gomez left the store and began to get inside his car, Martinez-Ramos' vehicle parked behind him and multiple gunshots were fired at Garcia Gomez from inside the suspect vehicle, Holihan said.

The suspect vehicle fled, but the license plate on the vehicle was obtained by a license plate reader and came back to a different vehicle owned by Martinez-Ramos, according to the news release.

Police: Phone records show involvement

Police said phone records showed that Pacheco had been informing Rodriguez about Garcia Gomez having an affair with her neighbor.

Pacheco sent Rodriguez a text message shortly before the shooting and asked her where she was, police said.

Rodriguez then called Pacheco and told her. Minutes later, police said, store video showed Martinez-Ramos' vehicle arriving.

Pacheco later admitted to police she relayed Garcia Gomez's location to Martinez-Ramos, according to authorities.

Police said the investigation revealed that Pacheco was in communication with her former partner as they discussed plans of where to find Garcia Gomez and kill him.

Text messages discovered later indicate that Martinez-Ramos texted Pacheco about 30 minutes after the shooting saying he intended to “burn the car and tell the owner it was reported stolen.”

Police said that after the shooting, Pacheco assisted with the sale of the vehicle used by Martinez-Ramos during the killing.

Pacheco also told investigators that Martinez-Ramos admitted that he shot Garcia Gomez.

Police say that during questioning, Martinez-Ramos said he "just wanted to scare" Garcia Gomez, but ended up shooting him.

Pacheco also faces misdemeanor charges of tampering with property and obstruction of law enforcement, according to the district attorney's office.

The case was investigated by Whitehall Police Detective Lindsay Yetter, Lehigh County Homicide Task Force Detectives James Bruchak, Timothy Salgado and Amaury Almonte.

It will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney James A. Augustine, Holihan said.