Party-goers testify to Washington’s involvement in “Cash Feenz” murders

Jul 9, 2009 2 min read

The state has called two party-goers to testify about the evening Alexis and

Jeffrey Sosa were brutally murdered.

Both have placed Roderick Washington at co-defendant Kemar Johnston’s 2006

birthday party holding the Sosas at gunpoint as they were bound, beat and

tortured.

William Arciszewski said he saw Washington holding a rifle to the Sosas, and

that Johnston also had a firearm. He testified that a cell phone voice message

sparked the violence towards Jeffrey and Alexis when they came to Johnston’s

party.

“It was like when they showed up you could hear a pin drop,” Arciszewski said.

“They started beating them. I could hear plates breaking and everything.”

Arciszewski said that, from his hiding place in Johnston’s bathroom, he heard

a gunshot and Alexis Sosa pleading for his life and screaming as his back was

carved with knives.

“I recall very vividly,” he said. “It’s one of the things that sticks out the

most in my mind, Jeffrey Sosa begging for his life. He said, ‘I have a lot to

live for, don’t kill me.'”

Arciszewski recalled seeing the Sosas carried out of Johnston’s home through

the garage area, and also that Alexis Sosa had a black bag covering his head.

Several individuals, including Washington and co-defendants Paul Nunez and

Kenneth Lopez, left Johnston’s home with the Sosas and later returned to the

home after they’d killed Jeffrey and Alexis, Arciszewski said.

“There’s no nice way to put it,” he said. “(The Sosas) were taken out like

they were trash. They were taken out like they didn’t matter.”

Arciszewski said he was afraid that if he left Johnston’s home or called the

police he would be killed. He told the jury the Cash Feenz transformed from a

rap group into a violent lifestyle, one which he rejected.

“It’s like they began living the music they made,” he said. “To me, music is

expression. They overdid it.”

Donteavious Overmyer, Washington’s friend, said he was the first to hit Alexis

Sosa in the face, cutting his hand open and beginning the onslaught of

violence against the Sosas. He said Washington held a handgun on the Sosas, and later a

rifle.

Attorneys are now questioning co-defendant Iriana Santos.