INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The man suspected of killing a Colts player and an Uber driver in a drunk driving crash was previously convicted of driving under the influence in California, officials say.
Manuel Orrego-Savala, 37, was arrested for the death of Indianapolis Colts player Edwin Jackson and Uber driver Jeff Monroe.
On Tuesday morning, an investigator from our sister station WISH received information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Orrego-Savala was previously convicted of driving under the influence in Redwood City, California in 2005. He had previously been deported twice.
ICE says he also has several other misdemeanor convictions and arrests in California and Indiana. WISH reported on Monday that he pleaded guilty to driving while never receiving a license in Boone County in 2017.
ICE provided this immigration history for Orrego-Savala:
- On or about July 1, 2004: He entered the country illegally without inspection
- Oct. 27, 2006: ICE deportation officers arrested him in San Francisco for being an alien present without permission or parole
- Nov. 28, 2006: He was transported to the Eloy (Arizona) Detention Facility
- Dec. 20, 2006: He was ordered to be removed to Guatemala by an immigration judge in Eloy, Arizona
- Jan. 17, 2007: He was removed to Guatemala
- March 26, 2009: He was arrested by deportation officers in San Francisco
- May 12, 2009: He was removed to Guatemala by ICE officers in Phoenix
Police say Orrego-Savala had a BAC of .239 after the crash. Indiana State Police say Monroe had pulled over on I-70 near Holt Road because Jackson had become ill. Police said both of them were outside of the vehicle. That’s when Orrego-Savala crashed his pickup truck into them, throwing one of them into the center lane of I-70, according to investigators. That person was struck by a responding ISP trooper.
Orrego-Savala presented investigators with a Mexican Consulate Identification Card and used the alias Alex Cabrera Gonsales. That’s the same name he used in his 2017 Boone County arrest. In that 2017 case, he received a jail sentence of two days and received credit for one.
Gonsales was again driving with a license. He faces preliminary charges of causing death when operating a motor vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent of .08 or more, operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license and operating a vehicle with an ACE of .15 or more, according to online records.
He made an initial appearance in Marion County court on Tuesday morning.
President Donald Trump has tweeted about the case, saying it’s “disgraceful that a person illegally in our country killed Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson.”
WISH also spoke with people that knew Jeff Monroe. They recalled him as being caring and funny.
“It’s been a very hard day for all of the employees here and certainly hard for his family,” said JP Thomas, president and CEO of Allison Payment Systems.
Monroe worked at Allison Payment Systems for 20 years.
Thomas also said that Monroe was dedicated to his family and wife of 23 years.
Orrego-Savala has not yet been formally charged by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
