Prosecutors convict two men in 15-year-old cold case
By Mary Alice Royse
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — Hamilton County prosecutors announced they have resolved a nearly 15-year-old cold case on Thursday.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Cameron Williams said Adam and Ricky Saysongkham both agreed to plea guilty to voluntary manslaughter and serve six years in prison for the murder of 25-year-old Jose Avenado.
On April 18, 2007, a little past 3 a.m., Metro Nashville police responded to Dominion House Apartments located on Lindbar Drive in Davidson County. Officer said they then located the victim, Avenado, who had been awoken by gunshots and apparently looked out his window and was struck by one round in the neck.
Officials later pronounced Avenado dead at a local hospital that evening.
MNPD said whilst conducting an investigation, the collected evidence included shell casings, two shirts and a necklace that belonged to one of the suspects. Eyewitnesses told investigators that they were in the parking lot when they observed a vehicle enter the parking lot.
Officials said this is when two suspects exited the vehicle and began to break into a Silver Honda Civic. According to the report, eyewitnesses confronted the suspects and a brief altercation ensued. After it began to calm down, the two suspects fled.
An eyewitness then told investigators this is when he heard several gunshots outside of his apartment complex, which is the same complex Avenado resided in. It is believed one of the gunshots the eyewitness heard struck Avenado and killed him the report said.
Nashville police later identified a suspect, and an eyewitness identified him in a lineup. Police said the case was then dismissed in 2007 because the witnesses failed to appear in court. The case went cold.
In 2017, MNPD’s Cold Case Unit reopened the case when Detective Mike Roland received information from a “concerned citizen” regarding Avenado’s murder officials said. The information implication Adam and Ricky Saysonkham and a third individual as people responsible for the death of Avenado.
Officials said Adam Saysongkham was 17 and his brother Ricky was 19 at the time of the murder.
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