Docs: Multiple people helped hide body of missing Newport News man

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Court documents show how Newport News police connected a suspect to a late September homicide of a missing 22-year-old.

Officers arrested Azbel Saralegi, 35, for the death of Tyreek Vincent, 22, on Oct. 16. Vincent’s body was found in a shallow grave at a field in a Hampton neighborhood on Oct. 9. A series of confidential informants and other evidence led investigators to the body, and eventually to the arrest of Saralegi.

The chain of informants began when an inmate told officers they lured Vincent to a Newport News house on 32nd Street in exchange for drugs. The informant told police they later came back to the house. Saralegi told the informant to not ask about Vincent, since he is “gone.” This informant then saw blood being cleaned from the bathroom, along with shell casings nearby.

This is all said to have happened on Sept. 20, the same day Vincent was last seen alive. Police were already looking for Vincent at the time because of his outstanding warrants. The last known location on Vincent’s cell phone pinged at the 32nd Street house, so police carried out a search warrant at the location.

There, officers found shell casings, plastic wrap with blood stains and blood throughout the house on things like paper and inside garbage cans.

A different witness spoke with Newport News police at their headquarters. While this person did not see the shooting, they were in the house at the time, heard the gunshots and saw the body of Vincent.

Piecing all this evidence together, officers searched a field near the block of 500 Dafia Drive in Hampton, where they then found the body of Vincent wrapped in the same type of plastic wrap found in the house on 32nd Street.

Court documents show officers also found a revolver matching the shell casings they found at the home. The document also points out that two separate people interviewed by officers said Saralegi told them he killed Vincent.

In the court documents, police said “several people” played a role in concealing and hiding the body of Vincent on the night of Sept. 30.

Saralegi was arrested on Sept. 23 after a police chase in Newport News. The chase reached speeds of up to 70 mph in a 25 mph zone. The day after his arrest, police charged him for having an illegal substance inside the jail.

In connection to the homicide case, Saralegi is facing a first degree murder charge and three other firearm charges. His next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30.

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