Officers asking for help finding third suspect in double homicide just south of Wichita

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help locating a third suspect in Saturday’s double homicide that officers think is drug-related.

Officers have already arrested 42-year-old David Baeza and 43-year-old Joseph Ponse in the killings. On Friday morning, the sheriff’s office said in a news release that they were looking for 42-year-old Hieu Trong Luong, also known as Sunny.

Anyone who knows Luong’s location should call 911 or Crime Stoppers, where callers can remain anonymous, at 316 267-2111. He has a skeleton neck tattoo in a July 2021 Kansas Department of Corrections photo.

All three men have been charged in Sedgwick County District Court. The charges are in the deaths of 43-year-old Saren Negrete-Perez of California and a man whose identity officials still are trying to verify.

Officers were called to a shooting around 5:15 a.m. Saturday in the 4300 block of South Rock Road. A 911 caller said he was shot several times, including in the “face, head and arms,” according to emergency communications.

Baeza was injured in the shooting and was booked into jail after being released from the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

Baeza has been charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter, according to court documents, and Ponse was charged with intentional and premeditated attempted first-degree murder.

Luong has been charged with intentional and premeditated attempted first-degree murder as well as criminal possession of a firearm by a felon, records show. Luong’s second charge says he was in possession of a shotgun.

Luong’s charges showed up in the court system on Thursday and Friday morning, but did not show up Friday afternoon, though he was still listed as a codefendant under Ponse’s charges. A spokesperson for Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office would not comment about any charges against Luong until he appeared in court.

Luong has nine convictions in Kansas between 2003 and 2020, KDOC records show. One was in Stanton County and the rest were in Sedgwick County. The convictions include charges for drugs, criminal damage to property, theft, burglary and criminal threat. He has 19 disciplinary reports from his time in prison. He was last released from prison in July 2021 and taken off parole in January, records show.

This story was originally published July 8, 2022 at 10:52 AM.