(Editor’s note: This story originally published at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network.)
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Authorities have charged a sixth person in the July 2017 home invasion and fatal shooting of mixed martial arts fighter [autotag]Aaron Rajman[/autotag] west of Boca Raton.
Alton Anders, 31, was ordered to remain in jail without bail after his first appearance in court before Circuit Judge Charles Burton on Tuesday morning, according to court records.
It’s unclear how Anders, who was arrested Monday, is connected to the homicide. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office did not release any further information.
Investigators say a group of individuals went into Rajman’s home, in a neighborhood south of Palmetto Park Road between State Road 7 and Lyons Road, at about 10:30 p.m. July 3, 2017. A fight broke out and Rajman was fatally shot.
It’s unclear who shot the 25-year-old. Family and friends said Rajman was a “kind, gentle” person who didn’t have any enemies and was one of only a few Orthodox Jews in the MMA arena.
Summer Church, Jace Swinton, Roberto Ortiz, Austin Baker and Cameron Burgess-Clark also have been arrested in connection to the homicide.
The indictments allege Church, Swinton and Ortiz stole swords, marijuana, a scale, narcotics and money in what is believed to be a targeted home invasion.
Church and Swinton, who were arrested in 2017, took pleas in their cases. Teens at the time of the shooting, they pleaded guilty in 2019 to the lesser charge of second-degree murder and were sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation.
Ortiz’s case has yet to reach a conclusion. He was arrested in 2017 and is scheduled to be in court for a status check in March. Most jury trials and hearings have been on hold since March 2020 as the courts, along with other government entities and businesses, closed in an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Baker was serving a prison sentence for burglary when a grand jury charged him in 2019. His case remains open.
In an August motion from his lawyer, Public Defender Carey Haughwout, and in a December letter he wrote to Circuit Judge Rosemarie Scher, Baker said the only evidence against him are the words of of Church and Swinton, who took pleas in exchange for their testimony.
Investigators have not released how Baker is connected to the homicide.
Burgess-Clark’s case also remains open. It’s also unclear how he is connected to the alleged crime.