Lawrence teen charged with 2017 murder
Aug. 4—LAWRENCE — Four years after a young mother was killed, a Lawrence teen was arrested and charged with her murder.
Emmanuel Disla, 18, was held without bail Tuesday after his arraignment in Lawrence District Court on the murder charge.
If convicted of the crime, he would have been 14 years old when he shot and killed Mindy Tran, 25, on Hillside Avenue on Nov. 26, 2017.
Disla planned "to rob this female drug dealer" and then shot her after "receiving orders" from a member of the Trinitario street gang, according to a state trooper's report.
Tran, who was found unresponsive at the wheel of a Nissan Maxima, had gunshot wounds in her left shoulder and back. She had crashed into a parked car nearby, according to an affidavit written by Trooper Joshua Ulrich, who is assigned to District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office.
She was taken to Lawrence General Hospital where she was pronounced dead, Ulrich wrote.
In May 2020, another trooper working in crime scene services was able to identify a previously unknown fingerprint taken from the door of the Maxima Tran was driving when she was killed.
Using that fingerprint, and additional information uncovered in April 2021, Ulrich was able to identify "cooperating witnesses" in the case, according to his report.
Ulrich said Disla, who is also known as "Gordo" and "Gordito," made plans to rob Tran, who was a marijuana dealer.
"Gordito was to approach the driver's side of the dealer's car when she parked to sell marijuana to them," Ulrich wrote.
Another person was going to steal Tran's keys and "Gordito would then demand money and marijuana from her," according to the report.
But when Tran arrived, according to Ulrich, Disla shot her while standing outside the driver's window. Tran "then drove off but crashed shortly thereafter," he wrote.
Later, Disla said he shot Tran after "receiving orders" from the local Trinitarios gang, according to authorities.
As police investigated Tran's murder, inside the Maxima they found: marijuana packaged for sale, a .380 caliber cartridge casing, two cellular phones, and more than $500 cash. A Samsung phone was the victim's personal phone and the other cell phone was "used for coordinating marijuana deals with customers," Ulrich wrote.
Tran's murder was the 10th of 11 killings in Lawrence in 2017.
Disla is due back in court next month for a probable cause hearing.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.
