Brothers plead guilty in killing of North Carolina K-9 deputy

Two brothers pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges tied to the fatal shooting of a Wake County sheriff's deputy who was killed while approaching a pickup truck on a dark rural road in August 2022.

Alder Marin-Sotelo, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Wake County Superior Court in the death of 48-year-old Deputy Ned Byrd, a K-9 handler. Alder was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Arturo Marin-Sotelo, 32, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and received a state prison term of roughly eight to 10 years.

Prosecutors and family members attended the hearing, which drew Byrd’s co-workers, family and friends. "We know that you can tell from the outpouring of love and support from the sheriff’s office — all of them who were present here today — that this has been a great loss for our community and for that agency," prosecutor Freeman told the judge.

Prosecutors said evidence that would have been presented at trial showed Byrd was driving in his patrol vehicle the night of Aug. 11, 2022, en route to a law enforcement training center for his K-9 when he noticed a pickup truck beside a fence on the side of a dark road. Body and in-car camera recordings, prosecutors said, showed Byrd exit his vehicle and, seconds later, six gunshots are audible. An autopsy determined Byrd was shot four times, including three times in the back of the head.

Authorities located the brothers in separate vehicles in western North Carolina days after the shooting. Prosecutors said Alder’s cellphone placed him at the scene during the shooting, and Arturo told investigators that the brothers had driven to a Wake County field earlier that night to hunt. Arturo said he walked through woods with a rifle while his brother parked the truck, and that his brother later said an officer had been killed and came to pick him up on the other side of the field.

Freeman said cartridge casings found at the scene and in the pickup were fired from the same unknown gun. A DNA sample from Alder matched a DNA profile collected from Byrd’s police-issued firearm, which was found in Byrd’s holster with his belt twisted around his body. Freeman said the evidence indicated Alder had attempted to remove Byrd’s weapon before abandoning the effort.

The case drew prolonged legal and international complications after Alder escaped from a Virginia jail in April 2023 while being held on a separate federal firearms charge. The FBI said he was taken into custody in Mexico a few days after the escape. He remained detained in Mexico until February 2025, when Mexican authorities agreed to transfer nearly 30 prisoners requested by the U.S. federal government. Prosecutors said securing Alder’s return required them to remove capital punishment as a prosecution option in the state case; first-degree murder in North Carolina can carry the death penalty. "If there was ever a capital case, this is the type of case that certainly would have been," Freeman said, explaining the decision to forego pursuing the death penalty to obtain extradition and resolution.

Byrd joined the Wake County sheriff’s office in 2009. At Tuesday’s hearing, his sister, Mignon Perkins, addressed the courtroom and the defendants, saying her brother had been "one of the most amazing people you have ever known" and telling the men, "You have stolen my happiness. You have stolen my joy. I’m a godly woman, but I will never forgive you for taking my brother from me." Through an interpreter, Arturo expressed remorse and asked for her forgiveness.

Both men previously faced murder charges and had been scheduled for trial in September 2026 before the plea agreements were entered. The plea and sentences conclude the state case against the brothers; federal proceedings related to Alder’s earlier firearms conviction and his escape were resolved separately.