A Johnson County jury found Axel Arellanes-Vara guilty of capital murder Sept. 9 for a 2021 double shooting in Olathe.

Arellanes-Vara, 40, was convicted after a trial that lasted more than a week, according to The Kansas City Star. The verdict closes a case that began in the early hours of Nov. 20, 2021, when Olathe police responded to gunshots in the 1000 block of East Fredrickson Drive at about 1:25 a.m.

Officers found Angela Santiago, 45, and Jose Arellano-Rascon, 42, both of Tonganoxie, dead from gunshot wounds inside a Kia Forte.

The car was still running. The gear shift was in drive, court records show. Santiago was in the driver's seat and Arellano-Rascon was in the front passenger seat.

Neighborhood video showed the victims had been pursued into the area by assailants in at least one Ford F-150, according to court records cited in the Star's reporting. The footage indicated the shooters approached the victims' car from behind and fired while the two sat inside.

Police initially described the suspects as four to five men and searched for a gray Ford F-150 connected to the shooting, KMBC reported.

Ten months later, in September 2022, prosecutors charged three men with capital murder: Arellanes-Vara, Salvador Garcia-Zarate and Jesus Enrique Cereceda-Soto.

The two co-defendants resolved their cases on lesser charges before Arellanes-Vara went to trial. Cereceda-Soto pleaded guilty to first-degree premeditated murder and was sentenced in 2023. Garcia-Zarate was sentenced in 2025 on two counts of intentional second-degree murder.

Both are serving time in the Kansas Department of Corrections, according to a news release from the office of Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.

Assistant District Attorneys Daniel Obermeier, Brandon Apperson and Robert Short prosecuted the case with support from the Olathe Police Department and the Johnson County Crime Lab, the release stated.

Arellanes-Vara's sentencing is set for Nov. 3 in Johnson County District Court.