18-year-old facing charges in connection to gang-related murder of teen

Rivas, 18, was arrested in Lynchburg.

FAIRFAX Va. – An 18-year old, facing charges in connection to the brutal gang-related killing of a 15-year-old girl, will go before a judge. 

Jose Castillo Rivas was arrested in Lynchburg in February.

Attorneys say he drove the car on the night Alexandra Reyes-Rivas was killed because he was threatened.

Rivas is one of ten suspects charged in the case, including a 17-year-old girl who returned home after she disappeared for a month.

Police believe Reyes went missing in December and was held against her will until she was murdered in early January.

According to court testimony, she was beaten and stabbed multiple times with knives and sticks near a lake in Springfield.

Investigators believe the suspects blamed her for the death of another gang member.