Defendant Pleads Guilty to Murder
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Apr 10, 2017, Comments Off
Courtesy Yanira Deleon,
The District Attorney’s Office secured a guilty plea in its case against Jose Jorge Vigil Jr., 36, for brutally murdering Roberto Benavides, a 20-year-old man.
On February 22, 2014, the Laredo Police Department Communication Division received a call from a worker at Union Pacific who discovered a body on the side of the railroad tracks. Upon arrival, LPD officers discovered a male subject with multiple wounds on his head and blood all over his face. The victim, identified as Roberto Benavides, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Roberto Benavides died from a blunt force trauma to his head consisting of multiple lacerations and puncture wounds. Upon further investigation, LPD detectives interviewed many people of interest. LPD interviewed Jose Jorge Vigil Jr. who admitted to killing Benavides with a hammer in his apartment after an argument ensued.
After killing him, Vigil moved Roberto’s body by stuffing him inside a mattress and took him to the 1600 block of Callaghan Street. Vigil then dumped the blood soaked mattress in the brush between the warehouses, threw the hammer near a sidewalk a couple of blocks away and threw a trash bag with a bloody comforter at a different location.
Jose Jorge Vigil Jr. was arrested and charged with murder, a first-degree felony in the State of Texas.
Vigil agreed to a plea deal where he will serve 30 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division. He was sentenced before the 49th District Court.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Garcia and Francisco Mendoza prosecuted the case for the State.
