Today, Judge Leo Dobrovolny presided in Morrill County District Court as a jury found Zachary Mueller, age 25, guilty of First Degree Murder of Pedro Adrian Dominguez aged 33. Mueller was also found guilty of Use of a Deadly Weapon to Commit a Felony and Possession of a Deadly Weapon by a Prohibited Person.

On Friday, December 4, 2015, the Morrill County Sheriff’s office received a call from a Morrill County farmer who found a barrel in Red Willow Creek on his property. Law enforcement transported the barrel to the Bayard City Police and law enforcement opened the barrel. The barrel contained the body of Pedro Adrian Dominguez. An autopsy was done at Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and it was determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

The defendant was shot in the back of the head while riding in a car driving south of Bridgeport on Nov 22nd, 2015. The body was later placed in a barrel which was recovered near Bayard on Dec 4th 2015.

Mueller was arrested on December 6, 2015, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after he stole a vehicle and engaged police in a pursuit.

The trial began on Tuesday, January 3, 2017. Assistant Attorney General Doug Warner and Morrill County Attorney Travis Rodak prosecuted the case. The Morrill County Sheriff Milo Cardenas, and Chief Deputy Cherre Fisher, and Morrill Hill County Deputies investigated the case with some assistance from the Nebraska State Patrol.