Dona Ana County DA: Person Of Interest In Triple Homicide Arrested On Unrelated Charges

U.S. Marshals, backed by El Paso Sheriff’s deputies, arrested a person of interest in a Dona Ana County triple homicide on unrelated charges Friday afternoon in El Paso, according to the Dona Ana County district attorney.

Eugene “Gino” Ferri was arrested in West Central El Paso and is being charged with concealing encumbered property after it was discovered he had a million dollars worth of animal trophies in his possession, Dona Ana County District Attorney Amy Orlando said. Dona Ana County Sheriff’s officials have called Ferri a “person of interest” in the Mesilla Hills triple homicide that occurred in mid-April 2010 near Mesilla, New Mexico.

Ferri was handcuffed and sitting in the back of an El Paso County Sheriff’s vehicle while a nearby SUV was surrounded, but not boxed in, by a marked El Paso Sheriffs vehicle, an El Paso Constable Precinct 7 vehicle, and three U.S. Marshals unmarked vehicles.

El Paso Sheriff’s deputies, an El Paso Constable, and plain-clothes U.S. Marshals thoroughly spent about 30 minutes searching under the vehicle, in the engine compartment, and inside speakers that were in the rear of the SUV.

Deputies then moved Ferri, who was calm throughout the ordeal, from the El Paso Sheriffs vehicle into the back of the Constable Precinct 7 car before he was driven away.

On a mid-April 2010 morning, Dona Ana County Sheriff’s deputies found elderly couple Gilles and Helga Delisles, along with Peter Weith, shot to death inside the Delisles’ Mesilla Hills home.

Court documents from 2008 state Gilles Delisle represented Weith in a bankruptcy case involving Las Cruces resident Carol Ferri. According to case records, Carol’s son, Gino, controlled her finances, and owed as much as $1.3 million to Weith for three investment properties.

Days before investigators found the bodies of the Delisles and Weith, a judge agreed to change Ferri’s bankruptcy claim from Chapter 11 Reorganization to Chapter 7 Liquidation, according to documents. It was a request Delisle made on behalf of Weith.

“He did give a voluntary statement to us and he was questioned and then left the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office,” Sgt. Joe Reynaud, Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office Investigator said in April 2010. “The curl dispute revolved around money which was transacted in 2001 by the Delisles to Mr. Ferri, and the civil action was brought fourth to recover monetary value for that money.”

Investigators found a missing white 2007 Nissan Pathfinder, which belonged to the Delisles, days after the bodies were discovered.

ABC-7 reporter Jennifer Myers contributed to this report.