2nd arrest in brutal slaying of man who went to buy video games

TRENTON — A second man has been charged in the slaying of a 20-year-old whose bound and gagged body was found riddled with bullets last month in a Mercer County park.

Akmal Alvaranga, 29, was arrested on Friday at his Trenton home and charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, kidnapping and weapons offenses — the same as Rufus Thompson, who was arrested March 31, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri.

Alvaranga's detention hearing is scheduled for Friday morning.

Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, did not reveal Alvaranga's role in the homicide.

The body of Danny Diaz-Delgado, 20, was found on March 24 along the Assunpink Creek in Hamilton. Diaz-Delgado's hands were bound behind his back with a power cord and his mouth was shut with pink duct tape, according to the affidavit against Thomson. 

Investigators said Diaz-Delgado appeared to have been shot nine times in the front and back of his torso.

According to the affidavit, Diaz-Delgado had agreed to buy a video game system from Thompson and some games from separate sellers for his brother. He left his home to complete the transactions late in the afternoon of Friday, March 23 and never returned home.

Diaz-Delgado's car was found not far from a home on Ardmore Avenue in Trenton where he had planned to meet Thompson. Investigators also learned that Thompson had recently moved into a basement apartment at the same address.

The affidavit did not disclose a motive for the homicide. It also did not disclose when and where Delgado was shot or if anyone else was believed to be involved.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated to include the correct date that the victim's body was discovered: March 24, 2018.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ