Two drug traffickers in the U.S. illegally have been sentenced to decades in prison for the slayings of three men whose charred skeletal remains who were found inside a burned vehicle on a Chilton County logging road.

Abraham Perez, 30, and Noel Esquivel, 31, have pleaded guilty to murder, said 19th Judicial Circuit of Alabama District Attorney CJ Robinson.

Chilton County Circuit Judge Amanda Baxley on Friday sentenced Perez to serve 32 years of the 35-year sentence set out in the plea agreement.

The judge sentenced Esquivel to serve the full 35-year-old sentence.

Killed were Gabriel Alonzo Rios Jr., 24, Gilberto Munoz Cabrera, 27, and Javier Quintero Gonzalez, 36. The victims were from the Metro Nashville/Hendersonville, Tennessee area.

Sheriff’s deputies responded shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, July 29, 2021, to the non-public road off of Highway 155 in north Chilton County near Montevallo. The sheriff’s office had received a call reporting the charred vehicle with a body inside.

Sheriff’s investigators, along with Jemison police, responded to the scene and initially reported one body had been discovered.

The investigation continued and it was determined to be the skeletal remains of three people, Shearon said. Law enforcement officers worked throughout the night processing the vehicle and removing the remains, which were then sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in

In August of that year, authorities released the images of men they said were missing persons from Tennessee and were headed to Alabama for a job.

Investigators were ultimately able to identify the victims through evidence collected at the scene and samples provided from family members in Mexico.

On Jan. 27, 2022, investigators carried out search warrants at County Road 5014 and County Road 1080 in Chilton County. They recovered evidence believed to be linked to the investigation.

That evidence, as well as statements obtained during the probe, led to the charges against the suspects.

Multiple agencies took part in the investigation including the Alabaster Police Department, the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, Fast-Lab in Thorsby, the Metro Nashville Police Department, the Hendersonville Police Department, the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office, the Dickson County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, ATF and DEA.

Robinson praised investigators and prosecutors for their tenacity on the case. It was a challenge, he said, because out of the three victims and two suspects. Only one was in the U.S. legally.

“These men and women worked to identify victims and build a solid case against these two defendants who never should have been in the U.S.,’’ Robinson said.

“Many people come to our country, work hard, pay taxes and contribute to their communities,’’ the district attorney said. “But not in this case.”