A Rome 19 year-old teen, Andres Jared Guzman, has been acquitted in connection with a 2024 quadruple homicide in Dalton.
Guzman was found not guilty of felony murder by a Whitfield County jury following a trial before Judge Burt Poston.
Guzman had been accused in the Aug. 24, 2024, shooting at Pleasant Grove Park, where four people were found dead.
Prosecutors argued the incident stemmed from an attempted robbery that was arranged to look like a drug transaction. Investigators initially believed the shooting involved a drug deal that went wrong after narcotics were discovered at the scene.
According to prosecutors, four people from Rome — Daniel Segura Cruz, 17; Robert Valencia, 18; Guzman, 18; and Juan Diego Cruz-Duque, who was 16 at the time — traveled to Dalton to meet David Antonio “Ace” Delgadillo, 21, and Joshua Pedro Pelico-Pelico, 19.
Cruz-Duque previously pleaded guilty to four counts of felony murder and testified against Guzman during the trial.
Whitfield County District Attorney Dan Kenemer said the prosecution’s case largely depended on whether jurors believed Cruz-Duque’s testimony. The verdict indicates the jury did not find his account sufficient to convict Guzman.
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An 18 year-old Rome teen, Andres Jared Guzman was arrested at his home off Burnett Ferry Road Tuesday and charged with a murder that looks to have occurred in Whitefield County last summer.
Reports said that authorities went to Guzman’s Brookwood subdivision home around 7pm after being alerted of his whereabouts.
After being taken into custody he was taken to Whitfield County where he was booked into jail.
According to reports, in August of last year Daniel Segura Cruz, 17, and Robert Alexis Valencia, 18 ,both of Rome were killed alongside David Antonio Delgadillo, 21, and Joshua Pedro Pelico-Pelico, 19, both of Dalton.
Authorities arrested a 16 year-old Rome teen right after the killings and charged with him four counts of murder.
Authorities added that were seeking additional suspects.
Whitfield County investigators said that several people from Rome traveled to Dalton’s Pleasant Grove Park to meet with Delgadillo and Pelico “for the purpose of obtaining contraband”.
Then when the groups met up gunshots were exchanged.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been assisting with the case.
Anyone with any information regarding the incident can still call the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office at 706-278-1233 or the GBI tip line at 800-597-8477.
