SAUGUS — For the first time in the investigation, a police report detailing the Dec. 11 murder of a 26-year-old Saugus man has been released.
The report, which had been impounded since the incident, was made available to The Item on Friday morning, a day after two additional suspects were arraigned in connection with the murder in Lynn District Court,
In total, five people have been arrested for their alleged role in the crime. Four of those people have been charged with murder, with a fifth facing robbery charges stemming from the investigation, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
Saugus Police reported to Michael Norton’s apartment at 44 Collins Ave. on Dec. 11 when they received a call for an unresponsive man at around 9:45 p.m.
When police arrived, they found the apartment ransacked and Norton with his legs and arms bound by duct tape, as well as duct tape around his nose and mouth.
Norton was pronounced dead at the scene and the police report says it was clear he was beaten due to his injuries.
Investigators used video surveillance from the apartment building and a hotel and phone records to arrest five people in relation to Norton’s murder.
Jorge Delgado Medina, Steaven Delgado, Mac Jean Laterion, Kiara Rosario, and Angjeliki Hodaj were arrested within the past month on charges related to Norton’s murder.
Video footage at the apartment building shows a black Dodge charger pulling up to the front of the apartment complex on Dec. 10 at 10:35 p.m.
Hodaj, who the report said Norton dated in the past, met Norton in the garage on the ground floor.
As Hodaj entered the lobby with Norton, a man wearing a face mask who came out of the same car as her also entered the building and walked to the stairwell.
Hodaj went up to the fourth floor with Norton, but after that point, neither Hodaj or the man with the mask were seen on the camera system from the apartment.
Around 11:38 p.m., the same black charger was seen driving away from the building. A witness, who was outside on the patio at this point, saw three men with ski masks exit a back door of the building along with a female, before they all got into the black Dodge charger carrying white trash bags in their hands — the trash bags were also observed in Norton’s apartment.
A maintenance worker at the apartment complex said they also witnessed a black Dodge charger circling the parking lot on Dec. 10 around 6 p.m. with the occupants wearing ski-type masks, which the witness thought was odd, leading them to record the license plate.
The license plate led to an Enterprise rental car registered to Delgado Medina’s mom.
There were also two Holiday Inn room keys found in the parking lot outside of the crime scene where a witness saw the charger leave from, which originated from the Chelsea Holiday Inn and were registered to Rosario.
About 13 calls were later found between Hodaj and Delgado Medina between Dec. 10 at 4:50 p.m. and Dec. 12 at 2:48 a.m.
Records also found that Hodaj was communicating with Steaven Delgado, who is the brother of Jorge Delgado Medina.
The police report says Hodaj and Steaven communicated several times leading up to the date of the crime.
Investigators also found that Rosario and Hodaj and an individual believed to be Delgado Medina walked into the Holiday Inn in Chelsea on Dec. 11 around midnight, and Hodaj was wearing the same clothes she had on in the video from Norton’s apartment, and also had a heat-sealed bag of marijuana coming out of her handbag.
Video also showed all parties carrying filled trash bags, gym bags and a laundry basket out of the hotel, with Norton’s mother identifying the laundry basket as her son’s.
Laterion was observed leaving the hotel carrying a pair of yellow and black sneakers, which Norton’s mother identified as her son’s and said they were expensive.
Holiday Inn cameras show Steaven returning to the hotel on Dec. 11 around 10:45 a.m., and Rosario came down to let him in.
Steaven was seen carrying empty gym bags, before Delgado Medina, Rosario and Steaven were seen leaving the building carrying bags that Steaven entered with, but did not appear empty anymore.
Later in the day, staff cleaning the hotel room found a plastic heat-sealed bag with marijuana, similar to the types of bags found in Norton’s apartment.
According to the police report, witnesses reported that Norton dealt marijuana out of his apartment frequently. Heat-sealed bags and multiple money counters were found inside the apartment, and the report said investigators believe the suspects were searching the apartment for either drugs and/or money.
