The admitted killer of a New Philadelphia teenager will spend up to 56 years in state prison.

Angelito X. “Angel” Caraballo, 16, and Hunter Mock, 18, were murdered on Oct. 8, 2023, police said, as they sat in a clearing in the woods off Ferndale Road near their home town. Their bodies were found two days later.

On Thursday, Schuylkill County President Judge Jacqueline L. Russell accepted Lamour C. Branch’s plea of guilty to the third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime and tampering with or concealing evidence in the shooting of Mock.

Branch also pleaded no contest to the charge of aggravated assault in the stabbing death of Caraballo.

Pleading no contest means that Branch agreed prosecutors had enough evidence against him to convict him in a trial.

Russell sentenced Branch, 21, to 28 to 56 years in state prison.

Coming to the decision to agree to Branch’s plea deal was tough for the families, but it was the least painful, said Caraballo’s grieving mother, Tanya Evans.

“We had the option to make that decision. They talked to us for 10 days about this. Then we had to come to a decision before the trial,” she said

Jury selection was scheduled for today; the trial was to begin Monday.

It’s hard enough for Evans and the rest of Caraballo’s large, close-knit family to navigate the loss of the young man, a Pottsville Area High School student known for his ready smile.

But the casual cruelty of some observers stings like salt in their wounds.

“People comment things like, ‘Oh, he (Branch) got off easy’. If people don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” Evans said in a telephone interview Thursday. “We’ve already been through so much. It was easier to do this than to have to sit through a trial and have to relive everything.”

That the stress of a looming trial is over gives some measure of comfort, she said.

But for now, there are still some nagging uncertainties.

“I just hope Lamour can find it in his heart to let us know what actually happened that night,” Evans said.

Efforts to reach the parents of Hunter Mock were unsuccessful Thursday.

Schuylkill County DA speaks

Branch’s plea wraps up his guilt, but the investigation is continuing.

“Due to the fact that no one has taken responsibility for the death of Angel Caraballo, that investigation will remain open,” Schuylkill County Michael A. O’Pake said at a press conference held late Thursday afternoon.

He said he hopes and prays that Branch’s plea will allow the families of the victims to “start closure.”

“The families of both victims in this case deserve a great deal of credit,” O’Pake said.

“Their strength and perseverance through this two-and-a-half-year investigation, which was ready to culminate in a trial, cannot be unnoticed. Without them, we would not have reached the conclusion we did today.

O’Pake thanked State Police at Frackville.

“The resources used in this investigation were immense. The manpower was incredible. But in particular, I want to give thanks to Trooper (Nicholas J.) Nick Reese. He has lived this case with the families for the last two-and-a-half years. Every day during that two-and-a-half years, I guarantee you he worked on some aspect of this case. Every stone that could have been unturned, was,” he said.

O’Pake also thanked Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer N. Foose for her hard work on the case.

He said the families were included in every step of the plea agreement negotiations.

“This case had some very inherent problems,” O’Pake said.

It happened in a heavily wooded area.

“No Ring cameras on any trees out there. If this would have happened in New Philadelphia proper, we would have had six, seven, eight cameras that we could have used as investigative techniques.

“In the late evening of Oct. 8, 2023, four young individuals walked into that wooded area. Two of those individuals were killed, Hunter Mock and Angel Caraballo. Two of those individuals left the woods that night; one in a frantic state, one to run and hide.

“Lamour Branch was the one to run and hide,” O’Pake said.

He said the fourth man, Jahlique Sherwood, would have been the lead witness at the trial.

However, O’Pake said, “within the past month to two months, Mr. Sherwood was charged on three separate occasions for three distinct crimes. One of those sets of crimes involved receiving stolen property, that property being a firearm. And carrying a firearm without a license.”

O’Pake said those arrests would have been revealed to jurors.

“As a result of that, his credibility was severely compromised. It’s been compromised in other ways as well, with inconsistent statements he’s provided,” O’Pake said.

As a result of that, he said, the situation was discussed with the families of Caraballo and Mock, and the decision reached to accept the plea agreement.

How the case unfolded

According to court documents, Caraballo and Mock were hanging out in the clearing, an old mining area known locally as “the Sanchez” with two others, one being Branch, the other being Sherwood, on the night of Oct. 8, 2023.

Branch pulled out a gun and began firing.

According to court documents, state police first responded to New Philadelphia when a resident called to say a man, soaking wet, with ripped sweatpants and no shoes, knocked on their front door asking for help.

They were afraid to open the door.

The man turned out to be Sherwood, court documents state.

He told police he heard “10 to 20 shots” and fled as soon as the shooting started. He told police he didn’t know what happened to Caraballlo and Mock, but that he heard Caraballo plead with the shooter to stop.

Caraballo and Mock’s frantic families reported them missing after they hadn’t returned home by the next morning.

A friend out searching for the two teens found their bodies at about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 10; Schuylkill County Deputy Coroner Albert T. Barnes pronounced them dead at 6:03 a.m.

Autopsies revealed that Mock suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Caraballo was stabbed several times.

The witness identified the shooter as Branch.

The U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force took Branch into custody at his Wright Township, Luzerne County home that night. He was held on a burglary charge.

Branch told police he picked up Sherwood, Caraballo and Mock the night of Oct. 8 to “go shooting.”

Branch said he hadn’t known Caraballo would be coming along.

Branch claimed that Sherwood shot Mock in the head and threw the gun down, telling him to “get Caraballo,” according to court documents.

Branch said he picked up the gun, but it didn’t fire.

A scuffle ensued among the three of them, and Branch claimed he “lost sight of” Caraballo and Sherwood.

According to court documents, a friend of those involved told state police that Mock had a “ghost gun” — a gun assembled from parts that lack serial numbers, making them impossible for law enforcement to track.

In June 2024, police finally had enough evidence to charge Branch with killing Caraballo and Mock.