FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – A West Fork man accused of a stabbing death earlier this month now also faces a felony motor-vehicle theft charge in a separate incident, records show.
Cory Ryan, 24, already was being held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center, facing a capital murder charge in the stabbing death of Gustavo Ortiz-Espinosa during a drug deal in Fayetteville on Sept. 6, according to Fayetteville police. Ortiz-Espinosa was stabbed in the neck at the Econo Lodge at 1000 S. Futrall Dr., police said.
Ryan was back in court for an initial hearing on Friday (Sept. 26) in the motor-vehicle theft incident, records show.
Ryan admitted to police he stole a Cadillac CTS in August in Fayetteville, where the vehicle was left running and unlocked, and drove it to Gassville, Ark. He sold it in Gassville for $700 to an individual who had not been identified by late this week, according to court documents. The vehicle, valued at $15,000, has not been recovered.
In the vehicle incident, Ryan was identified by his tattoos on surveillance video at a gas station in Madison County during a theft of gas, according to court documents. When interviewed in jail by investigators on Sept. 17, Ryan identified himself in the video images and said he stole the vehicle because he needed transportation, documents state.
The tattooed numerals on Ryan’s neck are identified as white supremacist code, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“14 stands for the ’14 words’ slogan coined by David Lane, who is serving a 190-year sentence for his part in the assassination of a Jewish talk show host: ‘We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,'” the center’s website states. “88 means ‘Heil Hitler,’ as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.”
In the stabbing death at the Econo Lodge, two additional suspects, Erick Picker, 34, and Stephen Scott, 23, are in the county detention center in Fayetteville, each facing a felony charge of being an accomplice to murder, records show.
In the stabbing death, all three suspects also face felony charges of theft of property and aggravated robbery, records show.
Ryan’s next court date is Oct. 8. Picker’s next court appearance is Sept. 29, and Scott will be in court again also on Oct. 8, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office website.
