DTE impostors to be sentenced for murdering Rochester Hills man

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Carlos Hernandez (left) and Joshua Zuazo

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Two men convicted of murdering a man after posing as DTE workers to get into his Rochester Hills home are set to learn their sentences Tuesday.

In the fall, jurors found Carlos Hernandez and Joshua Zuazo guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment for the Oct. 11, 2024 murder of 72-year-old Hussein Murray in the basement of his home.

The backstory:

Hernandez and Zuazo first went to the victim's home on Newcastle Drive the night before the murder, claiming they were with DTE and were there to check a gas leak. When Hussein Murray's wife, Linda Murray, did not let them in, they said they would come back the next day, and they did.

During that visit, the men were let into the house and led down to the basement. Linda testified that Hernandez and Zuazo then came back upstairs without her husband, and Hernandez repeatedly asked her where the money, safe, and jewelry was.

When she asked the men about where her husband was, she said Zuazo told her "he was asleep." She said she then saw blood on his vest and screamed. She claimed Hernandez struck her when covering her mouth, asking her to be quiet. She was then bound with duct tape.

Items were then taken from the house by the suspects, including jewelry and cash.

The trial:

The men were tried in the same courtroom with different juries in October.

After hearing testimony from everyone from Linda Murray, to investigators, and other witnesses over the span of four days, the juries deliberated for only a few hours before handing down the guilty verdicts.