Two people facing federal charges in connection with a murder-for-hire scheme that led to the 2018 kidnapping and murder of a Vermont man are scheduled to go on trial in September, a federal judge announced Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Crawford set a September 23 trial date for Serhat Gamlukuk of Los Angeles and Burke Elatai of Las Vegas. They pleaded not guilty in 2022 to charges of wire fraud as part of an international murder-for-hire conspiracy. The two were previously charged with arranging for a third defendant, Jerry Banks, to kidnap and kill Gregory Davis, 49, of Danville, Vermont.
3 Vermont State Police face drug charges while investigating murder of woman found in container
Banks, who prosecutors say kidnapped and killed Davis, changed his plea to guilty last year.
Two men accused of killing Vermont resident Gregory Davis in 2018 are scheduled to go on trial in September. (Dana Gray/The Caledonian-Record via AP, File)
Prosecutors allege Banks was part of a conspiracy that began when he threatened to go to the FBI to report his involvement in illegal oil transactions with Gamlukuk. On January 6, 2018, a masked man knocked on Davis’ door in Danville. Davis’ wife said the man was wearing handcuffs, a rifle and a jacket with the U.S. Marshal’s emblem on it.
The man told Davis there was a warrant out for his arrest out of Virginia for extortion. they walked away together. Davis’ handcuffed body was found on the side of a snowy Vermont backroad.
Within hours of the discovery of Davis’ body, investigators began focusing on the oil trade as a potential reason for his kidnapping and death.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A fourth man, Allen Lee Etheridge of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty last year and is awaiting sentencing.
