Two men are set to face trial in the fall of 2024 for their alleged involvement in the 2018 kidnapping and murder of a Vermont man. A federal judge scheduled the trial for Serhat Gumrukcu of Los Angeles and Berk Eratay of Las Vegas to begin on October 7, 2024. Both men have pleaded not guilty to wire fraud charges connected to what prosecutors describe as an international murder-for-hire conspiracy stemming from an oil deal.

The charges allege that Gumrukcu and Eratay orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of 49-year-old Gregory Davis of Danville, Vermont, with the help of a third defendant, Jerry Banks. Banks, from Colorado, has already pleaded guilty to his role in the crime. Authorities discovered Davis's body on the side of a Vermont road. The alleged motive for the murder was Davis's threat to report a fraudulent oil deal involving Gumrukcu to the FBI. A fourth individual, Aren Lee Ethridge of Las Vegas, has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.