 When Carlos Cruz-Echevarria was found dead along the side of a Deltona road in November, Volusia County detectives believed he was a good Samaritan, randomly shot as he tried helping a stranded driver. The three are... (Associated Press) 
 
 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Last Veterans Day, a 60-year-old U.S. Army veteran stopped near his home in central Florida to help what he thought was a stranded motorist. "I've been a cop for 32 years, and this is one of the most heinous, despicable, cowardly acts that I've ever witnessed," Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said during a news conference Thursday. Back in May 2017, Cruz-Echevarria was driving near Deltona when he honked at another vehicle that didn't move when the light turned green, officials said. Volusia County Sheriff's Office Benjamin Bascom Benjamin Bascom (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 Deputies say the driver of the other car, Kelsey Terrance McFoley, 28, pulled up next to Cruz-Echevarria at another intersection. McFoley pulled out a gun and asked Cruz-Echevarria if he had a problem, authorities said. According to deputies, Cruz-Echevarria wrote down McFoley's tag number and identified him in a photo lineup. McFoley was arrested June 1, 2017. McFoley, a convicted felon with more than two dozen previous charges, knew he would have faced a severe prison sentence had he been convicted of the crime, Capt. Brian Henderson said. McFoley had found Cruz-Echevarria's home address listed on a court document about a deposition he was scheduled to give on Dec. 7, and hired Benjamin Bascom, 24, to kill Cruz-Echevarria to keep him from testifying, investigators said. Volusia County Sheriff's Office Melissa Rios Roque Melissa Rios Roque (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 Henderson said McFoley hired Benjamin Bascom, 24, to kill Cruz-Echevarria. On Nov. 11, Bascom went to the home but Cruz-Echevarria's wasn't there, so he waited in the neighborhood, investigators said. Bascom drove around the neighborhood, waiting for Cruz-Echevarria to arrive, investigators said. “They were there to murder him.” 
 
 While turning around in the street, Bascom accidentally got his car stuck in a ditch. A driver pulled up behind Bascom and offered to help. Carlos Cruz-Echevarria was shot multiple times along a Daytona Beach road that night and his truck was found burned miles away. As Cruz-Echevarria bent over to get a better look at the car, Bascom shot him in the head, Volusia County Sheriff's Capt. His thanks is to wind up with multiple bullets in his head." The killing went unsolved for months, and the charges against McFoley in the road-rage case were eventually dropped. But DNA evidence linked Bascom to both vehicles, while phone records tied him to the scene of the murder and the area where Cruz-Echevarria’s truck was found, deputies said. McFoley was arrested Tuesday by U.S. Marshals in Orlando and Roque was stopped by Volusia County deputies on Interstate 4. The next day, Orlando police officers captured Bascom at Orlando International Airport, where he was about to board a plane to Texas. Sheriff's officials arrested three suspects in the killing this week and charged each with first-degree murder. Volusia County Sheriff's Office Carlos Cruz-Echevarria Carlos Cruz-Echevarria (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 Michael Williams can be reached at miwilliams@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5022 or @michaeldamianw.
– The killing of Carlos Cruz-Echevarria, a 60-year-old Army veteran, seemed random at first. But authorities now say it was all too deliberate. The body of Cruz-Echevarria was found Nov. 11—Veterans Day—near a disabled, stolen car on the side of a Deltona, Fla., road, the Orlando Sentinel reports. He had been shot in the head multiple times. His own truck was gone, later discovered burned some 30 miles away. This week, authorities arrested three suspects in the killing, which they now believe is connected to a murder-for-hire plot hatched to keep Cruz-Echevarria from testifying in a road rage case. Six months before he was murdered, Cruz-Echevarria honked at a vehicle that didn't move when a traffic signal turned green. The driver of the other car—later identified as Kelsey Terrance McFoley, 28—caught up with Cruz-Echevarria and brandished a gun. Cruz-Echevarria got McFoley's license plate number and later identified him in a police photo lineup. With a record that included 29 felony charges, per the AP, McFoley was facing serious prison time. He discovered Cruz-Echevarria's address on a court document and, authorities say, hired Benjamin Bascom, 24, to kill the man before his Dec. 7 deposition. Driving around the area near Cruz-Echevarria's home, authorities say, Bascom's vehicle got stuck in a ditch. Cruz-Echevarria pulled up to help, and Bascom shot him in the head. The case went unsolved for months, and the road rage charges against McFoley were dropped. Later, though, investigators used DNA evidence and phone records to link McFoley, Bascom, and McFoley's girlfriend, Melissa Rios Roque, to the slaying of Cruz-Echevarria. All three face first-degree murder charges.