Portland Fentanyl Dealer With Ties To Mexican Cartel Led Plot To Kill Bend Man Who Had Stolen Pills, Prosecutors Say

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Andrew T. Sherrell knew he was being hunted.

On the day he was killed, the 34-year-old Bend resident arrived in Portland aware he was wanted by his former boss, according to text messages presented in Multnomah County Circuit Court during a two-day bail hearing for three of the five people accused in his death.

Sherrell had filched more than 1,000 pills made from a potent mix of fentanyl and oxycodone from his supplier, a “high-level” drug dealer with ties to a Mexican drug cartel, authorities said in court.

His body was found in a pool of blood on a dead-end road in an industrial area of Gresham on Sept. 24, 2021, less than an hour after authorities say he was kidnapped in Northeast Portland.

“Like something out of a movie, Sherell was forced into a black SUV by a masked man,” Deputy District Attorney Leslie Wu said in court. “Mr. Sherrell told the group he would tell on them. After that he was shot execution style. He was silenced.”

Cesar A. Estrada-Nava and D’Sean M. Baker both face first-degree murder charges in the killing, while Kassandra L. Kitchens, Christian-Joshua G. Wobbe and Andrew K. Bushnell are accused of second-degree murder. All five also face kidnapping and conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors said Estrada-Nava, now 32, organized the kidnapping and killing to get back at Sherrell, who had stolen from him a supply of pills worth $20,000 on the street.

Prosecutors also said evidence suggested Estrada-Nava was himself in debt to his cartel suppliers.

Gresham police Detective Lindsay Friderich described Estrada-Nava as a “powerful, high-level” dealer who had fronted Sherrell the “blues” — a slang term for the fentanyl pills, which are designed to resemble prescription drugs — with an expectation Sherrell would pay him once he’d sold the supply.

Sherrell, who had been experiencing homelessness for about nine months, explained the motivation for his betrayal in calls from the Deschutes County Jail, Friderich said.

“Andrew (Sherrell) said he stole from Cesar because he felt overworked and underpaid,” Friderich said in court.

Prosecutors said Kitchens, 26, lured Sherrell to a Lloyd District fast-food joint Sept. 24 on the pretext of selling him more pills at a steep discount — all while secretly coordinating with Estrada-Nava, who she owed several thousand dollars.

Prosecutors allege Estrada-Nava’s enforcer, Baker, forced Sherrell into a SUV.

Wobbe, 23, then drove Estrada-Nava, Baker and a “hogtied” Sherrell to the homicide scene on Gresham’s Northeast Portal Way, Wu said. Bushnell, 23, drove a separate car and got lost as the car caravan wended its way toward Gresham, authorities said.

“This doesn’t exactly appear to be a well-oiled plan,” Gresham police Detective Adam Wright said in court.

Prosecutors allege Baker, 43, ultimately pulled the trigger — shooting Sherrell once in the head on the street. He received more pills as payment, prosecutors said.

Sherrell’s body, his arms bound by zip ties, was discovered by warehouse workers about 20 minutes after he was killed, according to a 911 call played in court.

The five alleged plotters gathered at Estrada-Nava’s home on Southeast 139th Avenue before and after the killing, prosecutors said. The FBI had already been surveilling the home as part of a drug-trafficking investigation.

“They knew at a minimum that Mr. Sherrell would be beat up,” Wu said, referring to Kitchens, Bushnell, Wobbe and Baker.

Police later seized guns and drugs from Estrada-Nava’s home, as well as a Ring home security camera mounted on the garage that provided video and audio of the group’s gathering.

Defense attorney Robert Crow said Kitchens exited the SUV after Baker and Estrada-Nava allegedly began beating and pistol-whipping Sherrell — and that Kitchens didn’t rejoin the group until after Sherrell’s death.

“(Kitchens) was under duress,” Crow said. “She was coerced by Mr. Estrada-Nava.”

Estrada-Nava’s defense attorney, Erik Eklund, said prosecutors never recovered the gun used in the shooting. An attorney for Baker, Alexander Hamalian, called into question the two men who identified his client as the shooter: Estrada-Nava and Wobbe.

Wobbe, he said, initially told investigators he saw Estrada-Nava holding a handgun. Wobbe later said he saw Baker shoot Sherrell after pausing his testimony and consulting with his attorney during a subsequent grand jury appearance, according to statements made in court.

“It was after that break that Mr. Wobbe changed his story dramatically,” Hamalian said.

Wobbe’s attorney waived the right to a bail hearing, while Bushnell’s attorney said her client was stuck in state custody on charges out of Lane County and was unable to appear in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Heidi Moawad on Wednesday denied bail to Estrada-Nava, Baker and Kitchens. No trial dates have been set

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