Wichita man sentenced for role in 2020 killing where victim was beaten, left for dead
A Wichita man was sentenced this week to four years, seven months in prison for his role in the brutal killing of a 47-year-old man who was beaten, bound and left to die in a car trunk more than three years ago, court records show.
Carlos Saldana-Delgado Jr., 22, pleaded guilty in 2021 to kidnapping and aggravated battery in the July 2020 death of Roy Hayden of Wichita. Court records say Hayden was beaten in the head with a hammer and crowbar, punched, shot in the knee, choked and forced into the trunk of a Volvo on July 1 or 2, 2020, during an assault at 840 S. San Pablo that lasted as many as eight hours. Police found Hayden’s body in the abandoned car days later, bound with a bungee cord, multiple garbage bags over his head and a dog leash, pillowcase and tape around his neck, according to an affidavit released by the court. He died from asphyxiation.
The attack was tied to drugs and took place after Hayden reportedly refused to submit to a sex act and follow other orders, apparently to prove he wasn’t a cop, according to court records.
In an interview with police, Saldana-Delgado said he participated in the attack, including hitting Hayden in the face and tying his feet, because he feared being killed if he refused, the affidavit says.
In a written motion asking Judge Chrystal Krier to impose probation or a reduced sentence, Saldana-Delgado’s lawyer blamed his client’s involvement in the crime on “a drug problem” and said his “critical testimony” at court hearings “contributed to guilty verdicts and guilty pleas against all (of) his co-defendants.”
Saldana-Delgado, the lawyer wrote, “was the least culpable of those involved and his actions were taken while under significant duress” that included threats to his and his mother’s lives.
The others convicted in connection with Hayden’s killing are either serving prison sentences or awaiting sentencing:
- Lawrence D. Bailey, 37, pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, aggravated battery and kidnapping. He is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 25.
- Ariana Cook, 23, is serving a more than 15-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping.
- Jose Garcia-Martinez, 22, is serving 25 years to life in prison plus 13 months. A jury convicted him of first-degree felony murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery and misdemeanor battery.
- Matthew Small, 38, is serving more than 20 years in prison after pleading no contest to kidnapping and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
