Teen Accused of Killing Landscaping Boss With Four Gunshots Before Dumping His Body Near Hiking Trail

An 18-year-old Minnesota man is facing a second-degree murder charge after allegedly shooting his landscaping boss four times and leaving his body in the brush beside a popular hiking trail. Investigators say the case took a dramatic turn when surveillance footage and cellphone location data appeared to contradict the teenager’s account of his final hours with the victim. What initially appeared to be a body discovered by unsuspecting park visitors soon developed into a homicide investigation involving a work relationship, a pickup truck and a series of troubling clues.

Emilio Vallejo Ortiz was arrested in connection with the death of a 53-year-old man who owned a landscaping business and employed him. The investigation began on October 4, 2026, when people walking through Wilkie Park in Shakopee, Minnesota, discovered a man lying in a ditch approximately 30 feet from a hiking trail. Responding officers found the victim in the weeds, with dried blood on his face and signs that his body may have been dragged from another location. Investigators also discovered blood on the ground, ammunition casings and marks consistent with something being pulled along the trail. An autopsy later determined that the man had been shot four times.

As detectives worked to identify the victim and reconstruct his final movements, they learned that he operated a landscaping business and that Ortiz worked for him. According to the criminal complaint cited by Law&Crime, Ortiz had access to the older man’s vehicles and sometimes stayed at his apartment. Investigators also learned that the victim had reported a break-in at his residence shortly before his body was discovered. Although the circumstances surrounding that reported break-in became part of the investigation, authorities have not publicly established a definitive motive for the killing.

One of the most significant developments came from surveillance footage recorded at a home improvement store in Burnsville. Ortiz reportedly told investigators that the victim had dropped him off at a shopping center and denied driving the man’s 2023 Ford Raptor pickup truck that day. However, surveillance footage allegedly showed Ortiz behind the wheel, with the victim sitting in the passenger seat. The two men reportedly entered the store together, purchased a door lock and then returned to the truck, with Ortiz again driving. Investigators say the footage challenged the teenager’s account of where he had been and how he had spent the afternoon.

Cellphone location data provided another important piece of evidence. According to the complaint, the victim’s phone registered near the area where his body was eventually found just minutes after the two men left the store. The device reportedly remained in that area until investigators recovered it. Ortiz’s own cellphone was also placed near the park for approximately 20 minutes around the relevant period. When detectives confronted him with the apparent discrepancies between his account, the surveillance footage and the phone records, he allegedly told them he did not remember that day. Authorities subsequently arrested him.

Investigators also examined Ortiz’s cellphone and reported finding a translated message that appeared to ask someone to obtain a Glock handgun. Police said the message was among the evidence reviewed as they investigated the shooting. Ortiz reportedly denied owning a gun, and the public account of the investigation did not establish that authorities had recovered the firearm used in the killing. The victim’s sister also reportedly raised questions about the nature of the relationship between the two men, but Ortiz denied that they were romantically involved. Officials have not publicly confirmed a motive, and those details remain allegations or statements recorded during the investigation rather than established findings about why the killing occurred.

Ortiz is being held in the Scott County Jail on $2 million bail, according to Law&Crime. He faces one count of second-degree murder, and the case is expected to proceed through the Minnesota court system. The victim’s name had not been publicly released in the reports reviewed. While investigators have described evidence they believe links Ortiz to the death, the allegations have yet to be proven in court. The case now hinges on how prosecutors present the surveillance recordings, cellphone records and other evidence, and whether those findings establish the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sources: Law&Crime