Alder Marin Sotelo, 25, stood before a judge in his first appearance in Wake County court after he and his brother were indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday. Both are charged with murder in the slaying of Wake County Deputy Ned Byrd, 48, this month. A judge denied Marin Sotelo bail earlier today, and Judge Rishad Hauter did not change it during Thursday’s hearing. Byrd, a K-9 officer and 13-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, was found outside the unmarked Sheriff’s Office SUV around 1 a.m. Friday, Aug. 12, near a gas station at Auburn Knightdale and Battle Bridge roads . He had multiple gunshot wounds. Marin Sotelo, who was handcuffed and chained, wore a striped orange jumpsuit and answered yes and no questions through a translator. During the hearing, Hauter informed Marin Sotelo of the charge and appointed an attorney to represent him. About 30 people, including Sheriff Gerald Baker and other deputies, were in the courtroom. If convicted of murder, the brothers could face the death penalty or life in prison. District Attorney Lorraine Freeman said she will decide within the next three months whether her office will seek the death penalty. Freeman wrote in an op-ed to The News & Observer that the investigation is ongoing, but no additional arrests are expected. “At this time we do not anticipate any further charges,” Freeman wrote. Deputy Ned Byrd WSCO

Investigation into the murder of Ned Byrd

Several agencies assisted the Wake Sheriff’s Office in the investigation into Byrd’s murder, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Bureau of Investigation and the US Marshals Service. The two brothers were identified after federal officials analyzed cellphone use in the area where Byrd was found dead and narrowed down the suspects, a person familiar with the investigation said. Federal and other officials subsequently located the brothers before they were taken into custody in Burke County on August 16. The two brothers have since followed different paths in the criminal justice system. Arturo Marin Sotelo, 29, was taken to the Alamance County Jail, where we were arrested on August 18th on a charge of murder and transported to Wake County. He is currently being held at the Wake Jail without bond. After officials took the two brothers into custody, Alder Marin Sotelo faced a federal charge of possession of a firearm by an illegal alien. It stemmed from a July 2021 report by a state trooper in Chapel Hill that included a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. The charge was put on hold or dismissed with leave after Alder Marin Sotelo failed to appear in court twice, according to court documents. Arturo Marin Sotelo, left, and Alder’s brother Alfonso Marin Sotelo have both been charged with murder in the death of Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy Ned Byrd, a K-9 officer and 13-year veteran of the sheriff’s department.

Third brother

Also on Aug. 16, a third brother was pulled over by a Forsyth County deputy on suspicion of illegal tint and a fictitious tag. Rolando Marin Sotelo, 18, faced a federal charge of “possession of ammunition by an illegal alien” after two boxes of 9mm bullets were found in the passenger floor of the Nissan Sentra he was driving, according to court documents. He is being held on that charge in the Forsyth County Jail. Rolando Marin Sotelo’s attorney, Dylan Greenwood, said he does not believe this charge is connected to the investigation into Byrd’s death. On August 17, law enforcement found the truck believed to have been used in Byrd’s shooting in Winston-Salem. A red truck is taken to the Wake County Detention Center/City-County Bureau of Identification in Raleigh, NC, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. The truck was seized by law enforcement officials Wednesday in Winston-Salem as part of the investigation into the killing of the deputy of Wake Ned Byrd County. Ethan Hyman [email protected] On August 19, hundreds gathered in Raleigh for Byrd’s funeral with mourners remembering him as a loyal friend with a passion for adventure. “The biggest muscle in Ned’s body was his heart,” his close friend Jason Culbreth said at Byrd’s Aug. 19 funeral, which was attended by hundreds of people, many of them law enforcement. “He gave and gave, and because of that, he got a lot of love.” This story was originally published on August 25, 2022 at 2:11 pm. Related stories from the Raleigh News & Observer