The Carrboro Police Department is charging a Burlington woman with first degree murder in the latest update from a fatal shooting in May.

A release on Wednesday said the police department’s investigation led to 28-year-old Karla Maria Machuca of Burlington as a suspect in the death of Juan Maldanado Espinoza. Espinoza, who was a Carrboro resident, was 41 years old.

Karla Maria Machuca, 28. (Photo via the Carrboro Police Department.)

The case, which continues to be under investigation, is related to a shooting from May 29 at the Estes Park Apartments community located off Estes Drive Extension. Police received a call around 11:40 p.m. to investigate and when officers arrived on the scene, they found a deceased adult male in the parking lot — who was not identified at the time. Carrboro Police confirmed to Chapelboro on July 3 that Espinoza was found in the lot next to the building in which he lived at Estes Park Apartments.

According to Wednesday’s alert, Machuca was arrested on June 12 while in Los Angeles and Carrboro Police confirmed she was arrested on the charges stemming from the shooting of Espinoza. She is now being extradited back to North Carolina to face charges of first degree murder, felony conspiracy, and felony attempted kidnapping over Espinoza’s shooting.

Carrboro Police told Chapelboro the incident was the second time Machuca was arrested over an incident with Espinoza, as officers arrested her just 16 days prior over an alleged assault on Espinoza. While the exact nature of the relationship is still being investigated, according to police, officers at the time of the initial arrest believed the pair were in an intimate relationship.

With Espinoza’s death still under investigation, Carrboro Police encouraged anyone who may have more information about the May 29 shooting to contact Investigator R. Trombley with the Carrboro Police Department at 919-918-7415. Additionally, those who wish to share anonymous information can use the Chapel Hill-Carrboro-UNC CrimeStoppers hotline (919-942-7515) and website.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.

Related Stories
‹
U.S. Carries Out the 1st Federal Execution in Nearly 2 Decades
The federal government on Tuesday carried out its first execution in almost two decades, killing by lethal injection a man convicted of murdering an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. The execution of Daniel Lewis Lee came over the objection of the victims’ relatives and following days of […]
California’s Alleged Golden State Killer Set to Plead Guilty
Forty years after a sadistic suburban rapist terrorized California in what investigators later realized were a series of linked assaults and slayings, a 74-year-old former police officer is expected to plead guilty Monday to being the elusive Golden State Killer. The deal will spare Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. any chance of the death penalty for […]
Chapel Hill Employee Lauded for Aiding Investigators in Murder Case
Nearly three years ago on a Wednesday in late July, Dr. Feng Liu, a late professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, went for a brief walk off campus during his lunch break. Moments after departing, he was robbed, beaten with a rock and left for dead by two assailants that used his credit […]
DA Woodall Says NC Death Penalty System Needs Reform
DA Woodall says that if North Carolina is going to continue with the death penalty as an option, then it needs to be reformed.
No Death Penalty in Case of Murdered Professor
Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall will not be seeking the death penalty in the case of a murdered UNC professor from July of this year. 59-year-old Feng Liu was hit in the head with a landscaping rock on July 23rd, while he was walking near West University Drive and Ransom Street and died the […]
Orange County Sheriff: Paula Floyd Murder Suspect in Local Custody After Extradition to N.C.
UPDATE: The Orange County Sheriff's Office shared an alert on the morning of Apr. 10 saying Matthew Vukmer was now in its office's custody.
Issiah Ross Argues Self-Defense In Double Murder Trial; Prosecution Wraps Testimony
Issiah Ross took the stand Wednesday to share his own testimony and defense in the trial over the 2022 deaths of two teens in Orange County.
Documentary on 2015 Muslim Student Murders Set to Screen Close to Anniversary of Shooting
Around the ninth anniversary of a triple murder of Muslim Americans in Chapel Hill, a documentary about the case will screen in the Triangle.
Records Show Deputy Charged in Sonya Massey’s Fatal Shooting Worked for 6 Agencies in 4 Years
Written by JOHN O’CONNOR and COREY WILLIAMS The former sheriff’s deputy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman killed inside her Illinois home, had been employed by a half-dozen police agencies since 2020, according to state law enforcement records. Sean Grayson’s career included short stints as a part-time officer at […]
Burlington Woman Arrested, Extradited from California Over Murder of Carrboro Man
The Carrboro Police Department is charging a Burlington woman with first degree murder in the latest update from a fatal shooting in May.
›