Man charged in connection with Rosenda Strong’s death pleads guilty

Feb. 9–One of seven men indicted in connection with the death of Rosenda Strong and her accused killer on the Yakama Reservation has pleaded guilty to one charge in that case and one charge in an unrelated case.

Andrew Norris Zack appeared Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Yakima for a change of plea hearing. He and his attorney, Rick Smith, presented a plea agreement in which Zack pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact in the October 2018 homicide of Strong and her alleged killer.

Zack also pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in a 2021 case involving gun and methamphetamine possession charges.

Chief Judge Stanley A. Bastian set Zack’s sentencing for 1:30 p.m. May 8.

Zack has been on GPS-monitored home detention since late July at a location outside the Yakama Reservation in another jurisdiction. He and Uriel Balentin Badillo, Joshawa Max Estrada, Wilson Louis Hunt and Michael Lee Moody were initially named as defendants in late June in connection with the death of Strong and her alleged killer, Jedidah Iesha Moreno.

Jamaal Antwan Pimms was taken into custody later in the summer and a seventh suspect, Kevin Todd Brehm, is incarcerated at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell.

All are either accused of being accessories after the fact or of kidnapping resulting in death for Moreno, who was identified in court documents as the person who killed Strong. Trial is set for Aug. 26.

Strong, 31, disappeared in late September 2018 after getting a ride with acquaintances to nearby Legends Casino in Toppenish. She was a mother of four and of Umatilla and Yakama descent.

The indictment filed by prosecutors said Strong was arguing with Moreno at a home on Wapato Road referred to as the “House of Souls” on Oct. 5, 2018. Moreno fired several shots at Strong, killing her, the indictment said. Moreno, who was still armed, “requested” that Moody, Zack, Hunt and others assist in covering up the killing, the document said.

Moody and the others placed Strong in a freezer, putting the freezer in the back of Zack’s truck and dumping it where it was found in 2019, the indictment said. The freezer was found July 4, 2019 a few miles from where Strong had been staying in Toppenish.

Cissy Strong Reyes, who is Strong’s sister, has spoken out for her sister ever since reporting her disappearance. Reyes and other relatives and friends have advocated for Strong and the many Indigenous people who have gone missing, have been found murdered and have died mysteriously within the Yakama Reservation and in the region.

Reyes attended the hearing Wednesday, as she has many other hearings in federal court. She and her sister were close, in contact every day, and Reyes has never stopped seeking justice for her.

Strong considered the suspects her friends, Reyes has said. She’d seen her sister with Zack many times and that makes her angry, but she was glad she could be in court Wednesday.

“To be able to sit in the front row wearing many shirts for her justice, and to be able to look at Zack and hear the plea agreement, was exactly what I needed to hear,” Reyes said. “We never gave up on my sister.

“Myself and our older brother Chris and (Karman Strong, Rosenda’s daughter), knew names in the beginning but never called them out until we had the truth,” she added.

Finally “we can breathe until trial in August,” Reyes said.

“Justice will be served and we can heal the wounds and trauma they all inflicted on us,” she said.

Reach Tammy Ayer at tayer@yakimaherald.com.