Alleged Getaway Driver in Centreville Murder Faces Obstruction Charges

Federal prosecutors say they know who drove the getaway car after a Centreville home invasion that led to the brutal murder of Jose Rosales Cardona last year. 

A grand jury recently indicted Vincent Leon Milhouse, 37, of Fort Washington, Md. on charges of obstruction of justice and making a false declaration to a grand jury, court documents filed on August 11th show. 

In the indictment, the grand jury alleges that Milhouse "did knowingly and corruptly influence, obstruct and impede, and endeavor to influence" a grand jury. Specifically, Milhouse is accused of lying about whether he "knowingly or unknowingly" abetted the perpetrators of the home invasion.

Milhouse bought a white, 1979 Toyota pickup truck in April or May 2010, according to the indictment. The grand jury charges that he lied in court about whether he drove that truck to a local 7-Eleven, picked the perpetrators up and dropped them near the mansion, then helped them get away after the murder. 

The new development in the case was first reported by Emily Babay of the Washington Examiner. It is the first time that anyone has been charged in Cardona's still-unsolved murder, and if convicted, Milhouse could serve 15 years in prison. 

While in the area around the time of the crime, there were 15 phone calls made from a cell phone to one of the suspects in the case, according to the allegations outlined in court documents. When testifying under oath as a witness before a grand jury in May, Milhouse said that he did not own a cell phone at all, and he was not sure of the number of a phone he borrowed. Yet during an interview with detectives in Sept. 2010, he said he had used a phone with the same number as the cell phone in question. 

Cardona, a Manassas Park resident, worked as a handyman for a Centreville family and was killed while trying to protect that family during the home invasion. On the one-anniversary of his death this May, Fairfax County investigators , hoping to obtain new leads.

According to the indictment, witnesses saw two men get into a pickup truck parked near the home—one into the passenger seat and one hiding underneath a tarp in the bed of the pickup. While a Fairfax County detective that there were four people of interest in the case, investigators have not yet detailed what they think the other person's role was.