A plea deal is in the works for a Nevada man charged along with three other co-defendants in a murder-for-hire case in the 2018 death of a Danville man.
Aron Lee Ethridge, 42, is set for a “change of plea” hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Burlington. Court records state only that the hearing is taking place; documents and details spelling out the terms of the deal had not been filed as of Monday afternoon.
In April, a Vermont grand jury charged Ethridge with conspiring with a Colorado man to kidnap Gregory Davis, 49, sometime between October 2017 and January 2018.
One of Ethridge’s co-defendants, Jerry Banks, 34, was also indicted in April for kidnapping Davis from his house in Danville on Jan. 6, 2018. Davis’ body was found the next day in a snowbank several miles from the residence. Authorities said Davis had been handcuffed and shot in the head and torso.
Police accused Banks of posing as a U.S. Marshal who had been sent to arrest Davis on racketeering charges.
Ethridge’s charging document alleged that his conspiracy with Banks took place in multiple locations including Vermont, while Banks was traveling across state lines and the men communicated via a cellphone.
Banks hasn’t been charged in Davis’ death, but prosecutors portray him in court filings as the hitman in a scheme to kill Davis.
Prosecutors alleged in criminal court filings that Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles, California, wanted Davis killed because he feared Davis would provide damning information to the FBI, alleging fraud by Gumrukcu in a “multimillion-dollar oil deal” between them.
Had the FBI become aware of the fraud allegations, prosecutors wrote in a court filing, Gumrukcu thought it would jeopardize his ownership stake involving more than $100 million in a California biotechnology company called Enochian BioSciences.
Gumrukcu, Banks and another man charged in the case, Berks Eratay, 35, of Las Vegas, Nevada, are all currently in custody on charges related to the alleged plot awaiting further court hearings.
Prosecutors said a probe uncovered the following connection between the four men charged in the case: Banks was friends with Ethridge, and Ethridge is a friend of Eratay, who worked for Gumrukcu.
Multiple pieces of evidence supported the link, such as Banks meeting with Ethridge on various occasions in late 2017 as the murder scheme was being finalized, authorities said.
Ethridge was the first person Banks telephoned after the murder, charging documents stated, and the first call Ethridge made after receiving the post-murder call from Banks was to Eratay’s phone.
Mark Kaplan, Ethrdige’s attorney, did not return a call Monday seeking comment.
