Collage of a family portrait with a mother, daughter, and young son, and a man in handcuffs.

A GANG link has emerged after an Alabama mother and her two children were found buried in a shallow grave.

The suspect was already known to investigators as a member of the Sureños, a transnational gang tied to the Mexican Mafia.

Aurelia Choc Cac with her daughter Niurka and son Anthony.
Aurelia Choc Cac, 40, her daughter Niurka Zuleta-Choc, 17, and her son Anthony Garcia Choc, 2 were found buried in a grave in AlabamaCredit: Mobile Country Sheriff’s Office
 

Hector Argueta-Guerra in court, wearing a dark shirt and handcuffs, with a sheriff's deputy behind him.
Hector Gamaliel Argueta-Guerra, an alleged Sureños gang member with ties to the Mexican Mafia now faces capital murder chargesCredit: WALA
 

Police cars behind yellow caution tape at a crime scene.
Deputies found jewelry bearing the names of Aurelia Choc and her two-year-old son with the bodiesCredit: FOX10
In Baldwin County, Alabama, Hector Gamaliel Argueta-Guerra, 27, now faces capital murder charges in the deaths of Aurelia Choc Cac, 40, her daughter Niurka Zuleta-Choc, 17, and her son Anthony Garcia Choc, 2.

The bodies were discovered in a lightly wooded area off Downing Road east of Summerdale during what Sheriff Paul Burch described as a follow-up search tied to the suspect.

Argueta-Guerra had already been in jail for weeks on kidnapping charges linked to the family’s disappearance.

On Thursday, Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said those counts were being upgraded to capital murder and that prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

It includes three counts of capital murder during a kidnapping, three counts of capital murder during a burglary, capital murder for the deaths of two or more people, capital murder for the murder of a child under 14, three counts of abuse of a corpse and obstruction of justice.

Blackwood called it a horrific and gruesome murder as he announced the upgraded charges, News Nation reported.

The family had been missing since late January after they were last seen at their home on Ben Hamilton Road in Theodore.

Authorities said the remains have not yet been formally identified by forensic testing, but investigators believe they are the missing family based on the evidence recovered at the scene.

Burch said deputies also found jewelry bearing the names of Aurelia Choc and her two-year-old son with the bodies.

Even with the bodies found, investigators said they still do not know the motive.

The gang angle had already surfaced weeks earlier.

In February, Burch said Argueta-Guerra was a known member of the Sureños, a transnational gang that originated in Southern California.

According to FOX10’s reporting on the case, the FBI describes the group as paying tribute to the Mexican Mafia and says it is also known as Sur 13.

Investigators have also pointed to a violent criminal history in El Salvador.

Authorities say he has active warrants there tied to alleged organized crime and terrorism-related conduct.

Sheriff Burch also said the suspect had previously been ordered deported but was released in 2021.

Earlier reporting in the case said U.S. records showed Argueta-Guerra had been detained in Texas in 2015 for being in the country illegally before being released.

Federal officials later said he might have received Temporary Protected Status.

Burch said law enforcement and federal agencies had worked the case every day since the family disappeared.

Argueta-Guerra is expected to be arraigned on the upgraded charges and required to appear in person.

Mugshot of Hector Argueta-Guerra.
Argueta-Guerra had already been in jail for weeks on kidnapping charges linked to the family’s disappearanceCredit: Mobile County Sheriff’s Office