Man charged in 2021 double murder in Olathe found guilty of capital murder

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man charged in the killing of two people in 2021 in Olathe was found guilty Wednesday by a Johnson County, Kansas, jury.

Axel Arellanes-Vara was found guilty of capital murder in the case, according to a press release from the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.

Arellanes-Vara was one of three suspects charged in the double murder — Salvador Garcia-Zarate and Jesus Enrique Cereceda-Soto were also charged with capital murder.

The killings took place on Nov. 20, 2021, in the 1000 block of East Fredrickson Drive. Responding officers found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle.

Jason Gould/KSHB 41

The two victims, who were pronounced dead at the scene, were later identified as Angela Santiago, 45, and Jose Arellano-Rascon, 42.

Arellanes-Vara is set to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 3, per the district attorney’s office.

Cereceda-Soto’s charge was amended in 2023 to premeditated first-degree murder. Garcia-Zarate entered into a plea agreement in 2025. He was sentenced to serve 165 months consecutively on two counts of second-degree murder, per court records.

—

If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.

Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.