Mich. Men Beat Jeweler to Death in His Basement After Posing as Utility Workers. Now They Learn Their Fate By Christina Coulter

Two men who posed as utility workers to enter a Michigan home and beat a jeweler to death in his basement were sentenced Tuesday, Dec. 9, to life in prison without parole.

Carlos Hernandez, 37, and Joshua Zuazo, 39, were given life terms for the Oct. 11, 2024 killing of Hussein Murray, 72, according to the Detroit Free Press, CBS News, WXYZ and FOX 2 Detroit. Both men were previously convicted in October 2025 by separate juries of first-degree felony murder and unlawful imprisonment, per the outlets.

Prosecutors said Hernandez and Zuazo first arrived at the Rochester Hills home on Oct. 10, 2024, claiming they were there to check for a gas leak but were not allowed inside, according to the outlets.

They returned the next day wearing items labeled “DTE,” were permitted in, and went with homeowner Murray to the basement where he was beaten and bound with duct tape and zip ties, PEOPLE previously reported.

Prosecutors also said Hernandez struck and bound Murray’s wife in the kitchen before Zuazo ransacked the home, per the outlets. She managed to call 911 after the men left. Authorities later linked items taken from the home to Hernandez’s vehicle, which was stopped in Louisiana.

Judge Yasmine Poles sharply condemned the pair’s “pathetic … cowardice act” during sentencing.

“His life meant nothing to you,” said Poles, according to the Detroit Free Press. “Rarely does the court see this level of depravity, this level of arrogance and greed.”

“Every step on the way to that basement, on your way down with him, you could’ve said enough is enough. But you didn’t, because it’s a cowardice act,” she said, per ClickOnDetroit. “It is pathetic. Your actions are absolutely pathetic.”

Poles added that she “[hoped] whatever those last words he said to you, or whatever that last moment that he looked at you, haunts you for the rest of your life,” she said.

Family members also spoke tearfully about Murray — a father of three who had recently begun retirement. He had operated a longtime pawn and jewelry business in Hamtramck and was a beloved figure in the community, PEOPLE previously reported.

Abdu Murray, the slain jeweler’s eldest son, admonished the pair for forcing the family to relive Murray’s death in court:

“All the while knowing they were guilty, but taking on the slimmest of chances, and the chances were exceeding infinitesimally slim, that they would get out of that guilty, or that they would get less than the maximum sentence,” he said, per FOX 2.

Another son, Moheeb Murray, read a poem that his mother wrote for Murray — her husband of 54 years — in court: “They have stolen my sunshine,” the poem read in part, per ClickOnDetroit. “…the world is darker now without the love of my life.”

“There is a gaping hole in our hearts that will never be filled,” Rehif Murray, the couple’s third son, said, per FOX 2. “My dad was larger than life, and it’s a presence that you can’t replace and you can’t even attempt to fill … so that’s something we’re going to have to live with for the rest of our lives.”

Hernandez and Zuazo declined to speak in court, and their attorneys said they plan to appeal.