The Montgomery County Police Department has announced the arrest of a 22-year-old man in connection with the July 9, 2023 death of a Gaithersburg resident whose body was found in Seneca Creek in Germantown.
Police said tips from the public helped identify the victim as 45-year-old Jose Israel Centeno Velasquez of Gaithersburg. On July 9, 2023, officers from MCPD’s 1st District and the Maryland Natural Resources Police responded to the area of Black Rock Road and Seneca Creek Trail following a report of a body in the creek.
The victim was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where an autopsy determined he died from multiple injuries. The manner of death was later ruled a homicide.
Detectives with MCPD’s Major Crimes Division identified Franklin Villalobos Gomez as a suspect during the investigation. An arrest warrant was obtained on February 8, 2026, charging him with first-degree murder, and he was taken into custody on February 9, 2026, by the department’s Criminal Street Gang Unit.
Villalobos Gomez is currently being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit and is awaiting a bond hearing scheduled for February 10, 2026.
