Police identified the other suspects as Ruben Rodriguez Dorado, 30, and Christopher Andrew Duran, 17.
The three men each face one count of capital, El Paso police said.
The victim, Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana, was shot multiple times in front of his home on May 15.
Duran and Rodriguez told police that Apodaca was paid to be the
shooter, the affidavit states. Cell phone records, witness statements
and El Paso Police detectives corroborated this, according to the
document.
Orders to kill Gonzalez came from the same cartel he
worked for, the affidavit said. Gonzalez had become a target because
the cartel believed he was leaking information to authorities, the
document said.
The victim and one of the suspects, Rodriguez, were in the Juarez cartel,
based across the border from El Paso, police spokesman Chris Mears told
CNN. Police believe that Apodaca and Duran were not cartel members, he
said
The three arrested men's phone records showed their
approximate locations on the night of the killing, according to court
documents. The pattern showed that the suspects were tracking Gonzalez
and followed him to the scene of the crime, the affidavit states.
During an interrogation, Rodriguez told investigators that he ordered
Gonzalez's execution and that he paid the participants for their role
in the killing, the affidavit states.
Apodaca joined the Army in September 2008, according to a statement from Fort Bliss in El Paso.
He is a member of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Bliss
and performs the duties of a Patriot launcher crew member, the
statement said.
El Paso County District Court
records show that Apodaca was arrested 10 days after Gonzalez's killing
and charged with attempted theft of property, a second-degree felony.
He posted a $10,000 bond a few days later.