In these photos made available by the Volusia County Dept. of Corrections, Fla., shows Kelsey McFoley, left, Melissa Rios Roque and Benjamin Bascom under arrest, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. The three are... (Associated Press) 
 
 In these photos made available by the Volusia County Dept. of Corrections, Fla., shows Kelsey McFoley, left, Melissa Rios Roque and Benjamin Bascom under arrest, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. The three are charged in the death of Carlos Cruz-Echevarria. Echevarria was to give a deposition in a road rage... (Associated Press) 
 
 In these photos made available by the Volusia County Dept. of Corrections, Fla., shows Kelsey McFoley, left, Melissa Rios Roque and Benjamin Bascom under arrest, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. The three are charged in the death of Carlos Cruz-Echevarria. Echevarria was to give a deposition in a road rage... (Associated Press) In these photos made available by the Volusia County Dept. of Corrections, Fla., shows Kelsey McFoley, left, Melissa Rios Roque and Benjamin Bascom under arrest, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. The three are... (Associated Press) 
 
 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Last Veterans Day, a 60-year-old U.S. Army veteran stopped near his home in central Florida to help what he thought was a stranded motorist. Carlos Cruz-Echevarria was shot multiple times along a Daytona Beach road that night and his truck was found burned miles away. 
 
 Volusia County investigators initially thought the slaying was random, that Cruz-Echevarria had been robbed while being a good Samaritan. But the driver turned out to be a hit man who'd been hired to keep him from testifying about a road rage confrontation six months earlier, investigators told news outlets. 
 
 Sheriff's officials arrested three suspects in the killing this week and charged each with first-degree murder. 
 
 "I've been a cop for 32 years, and this is one of the most heinous, despicable, cowardly acts that I've ever witnessed," Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said during a news conference Thursday. "You've got a pack of animals, (who) once again illustrate that human life is cheap on the street. A road rage incident where a man does what he's supposed to do, notify the police (and) cooperate with the system. His thanks is to wind up with multiple bullets in his head." 
 
 Back in May 2017, Cruz-Echevarria was driving near Deltona when he honked at another vehicle that didn't move when the light turned green, officials said. An accident report says Kelsey Terrance McFoley, 28, was driving that vehicle. Cruz-Echevarria passed the vehicle, but McFoley caught up with him at another intersection. The two drivers got out of their vehicles and McFoley pulled a gun. 
 
 According to deputies, Cruz-Echevarria wrote down McFoley's tag number and identified him in a photo lineup. McFoley was arrested June 1, 2017. Because he has a long record, including 29 felony charges, officials said McFoley could have faced a severe prison sentence if convicted in the road rage case. 
 
 McFoley had found Cruz-Echevarria's home address listed on a court document about a deposition he was scheduled to give on Dec. 7, and hired Benjamin Bascom, 24, to kill Cruz-Echevarria to keep him from testifying, investigators said. Bascom had been staking out the house for several weeks, investigators said. 
 
 On Nov. 11, Bascom went to the home but Cruz-Echevarria's wasn't there, so he waited in the neighborhood, investigators said. As Bascom turned his vehicle around, it got stuck in a ditch. That's when a truck pulled up. Inside was Cruz-Echevarria. 
 
 As Cruz-Echevarria bent over to get a better look at the car, Bascom shot him in the head, Volusia County Sheriff's Capt. Brian Henderson said. 
 
 As the slaying investigation continued unsolved, the road rage charges against McFoley were dropped. 
 
 Then DNA found in the vehicles led investigators to Bascom and the bizarre tale unraveled. 
 
 Phone records tied Bascom to the stranded vehicle and Cruz-Echevarria's truck, deputies said. Those same phone records linked Bascom to McFoley. Authorities said McFoley's girlfriend, Melissa Rios Roque, 21, assisted in the plot. 
 
 Bascom was arrested Wednesday at Orlando International Airport, carrying a one-way ticket to Texas. McFoley was arrested Tuesday by U.S. Marshals in Orlando and Roque was stopped by Volusia County deputies on Interstate 4. No attorneys were listed on the suspects' court records. 
 
 ____ 
 
 This story has corrected the spelling of the girlfriend's last name to Roque, not Rogue. ||||| When Carlos Cruz-Echevarria was found dead along the side of a Deltona road in November, Volusia County detectives believed he was a good Samaritan, randomly shot as he tried helping a stranded driver. 
 
 An investigation soon revealed that the story went much deeper. The stranded driver whom Cruz-Echevarria, 60, tried helping was actually a hitman hired to kill him, Sheriff Mike Chitwood said. 
 
 On Thursday, the sheriff announced the arrests of three people suspected of Cruz-Echevarria’s murder. Investigators say the Army veteran was targeted and executed to prevent him from testifying in a road-rage case. 
 
 “I’ve been a cop for 32 years,” Chitwood said during a news conference Thursday. “This is one of the most heinous, despicable, cowardly acts I’ve ever witnessed.” 
 
 Volusia County Sheriff's Office Kelsey McFoley Kelsey McFoley (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 Cruz-Echevarria was found shot multiple times in the head near a disabled, stolen car that was stuck in the grass near Malaga Avenue and Puritan Street on Nov. 11, 2017. His truck was stolen and later found burned in Apopka, sheriff’s spokesman Andrew Gant said. 
 
 The seemingly random slaying left his family reeling. They described him as a gentle animal lover who raised exotic birds. He made life “so much more rich and beautiful just for being himself,” his niece wrote in a statement shortly after his death. 
 
 Officials say the series of events that led to Cruz-Echevarria’s death began May 2, 2017. He was driving in Deltona when he honked at a vehicle that was stopped at a green light. 
 
 Volusia County Sheriff's Office Benjamin Bascom Benjamin Bascom (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 Deputies say the driver of the other car, Kelsey Terrance McFoley, 28, pulled up next to Cruz-Echevarria at another intersection. McFoley pulled out a gun and asked Cruz-Echevarria if he had a problem, authorities said. 
 
 Cruz-Echevarria was able to write down McFoley’s tag number. By the end of the month, investigators identified McFoley as a suspect in the road-rage case. He was arrested June 1, 2017. 
 
 McFoley, a convicted felon with more than two dozen previous charges, knew he would have faced a severe prison sentence had he been convicted of the crime, Capt. Brian Henderson said. 
 
 He said McFoley was willing to do anything to avoid prison. 
 
 On Oct. 23 — about three weeks before Cruz-Echevarria’s death, McFoley’s attorney filed a court notice indicating Cruz-Echevarria was set to testify against McFoley in December, authorities said. It included Cruz-Echevarria’s home address. 
 
 Volusia County Sheriff's Office Melissa Rios Roque Melissa Rios Roque (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 Henderson said McFoley hired Benjamin Bascom, 24, to kill Cruz-Echevarria. Bascom went to Cruz-Echevarria’s house Nov. 11, but he wasn’t there. Bascom drove around the neighborhood, waiting for Cruz-Echevarria to arrive, investigators said. 
 
 “They were actually stalking the victim,” Henderson said. “They were there to murder him.” 
 
 While turning around in the street, Bascom accidentally got his car stuck in a ditch. A driver pulled up behind Bascom and offered to help. 
 
 It was Cruz-Echevarria. 
 
 Henderson said Cruz-Echevarria bent over to get a better look at the car. Then Bascom shot him in the head several times. 
 
 The killing went unsolved for months, and the charges against McFoley in the road-rage case were eventually dropped. 
 
 But DNA evidence linked Bascom to both vehicles, while phone records tied him to the scene of the murder and the area where Cruz-Echevarria’s truck was found, deputies said. The records also indicated that McFoley spoke with Bascom on the phone and gave him instructions on how to carry out the murder, authorities said. 
 
 On Tuesday, McFoley and his girlfriend, Melissa Rios Roque — whom officials say conspired with McFoley and Bascom to commit the murder — were arrested. McFoley was captured by U.S. Marshals in Orlando. Roque was arrested by Volusia County detectives on Interstate 4. 
 
 The next day, Orlando police officers captured Bascom at Orlando International Airport, where he was about to board a plane to Texas. 
 
 All three suspects face charges of first-degree murder. 
 
 Volusia County Sheriff's Office Carlos Cruz-Echevarria Carlos Cruz-Echevarria (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 Michael Williams can be reached at miwilliams@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5022 or @michaeldamianw. 
 
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– The killing of Carlos Cruz-Echevarria, a 60-year-old Army veteran, seemed random at first. But authorities now say it was all too deliberate. The body of Cruz-Echevarria was found Nov. 11—Veterans Day—near a disabled, stolen car on the side of a Deltona, Fla., road, the Orlando Sentinel reports. He had been shot in the head multiple times. His own truck was gone, later discovered burned some 30 miles away. This week, authorities arrested three suspects in the killing, which they now believe is connected to a murder-for-hire plot hatched to keep Cruz-Echevarria from testifying in a road rage case. Six months before he was murdered, Cruz-Echevarria honked at a vehicle that didn't move when a traffic signal turned green. The driver of the other car—later identified as Kelsey Terrance McFoley, 28—caught up with Cruz-Echevarria and brandished a gun. Cruz-Echevarria got McFoley's license plate number and later identified him in a police photo lineup. With a record that included 29 felony charges, per the AP, McFoley was facing serious prison time. He discovered Cruz-Echevarria's address on a court document and, authorities say, hired Benjamin Bascom, 24, to kill the man before his Dec. 7 deposition. Driving around the area near Cruz-Echevarria's home, authorities say, Bascom's vehicle got stuck in a ditch. Cruz-Echevarria pulled up to help, and Bascom shot him in the head. The case went unsolved for months, and the road rage charges against McFoley were dropped. Later, though, investigators used DNA evidence and phone records to link McFoley, Bascom, and McFoley's girlfriend, Melissa Rios Roque, to the slaying of Cruz-Echevarria. All three face first-degree murder charges.