CHICAGO (AP) – A judge sentenced a man to life in prison on Monday for the 2016 murder of six members of his family, including two children, inside his Chicago home.
Last month, a jury found Diego Uribe Cruz guilty of six counts of premeditated murder in the killing of victims in a house in the Gage Park neighborhood in the southwestern part of the city.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed that on February 4, 2016, Uribe Cruz shot his aunt, María Martínez, 32, and then tried to rob her. He then stabbed Martinez’s sons, aged 10 and 13, to death, and later stabbed or beaten to death other relatives to make sure there were no witnesses.
Evidence against Uribe Cruz included DNA recovered from Martinez’s nails and a small amount of blood that matched that of Uribe Cruz. Prosecutors also showed the jury a video in which Uribe Cruz confessed some details to Chicago police investigators.
Additionally, Uribe Cruz’s girlfriend Jafeth Ramos, 25, testified against him. Ramos, originally accused of murder alongside Uribe Cruz, testified as part of a plea deal in which she was required to plead guilty to armed robbery and cooperate with the authorities.
According to investigators, DNA evidence linked Uribe Cruz to the crime. They added that cell phone records also linked Uribe Cruz and Ramos to the crime scene.
Ramos described in his testimony how Uribe Cruz methodically killed each of the victims. Ramos is expected to be sentenced next month.
Uribe Cruz refused to make a statement prior to his sentencing.
His lawyers have indicated in court that they intend to challenge the sentence. During the trial, they said that he could not have killed the six people without help. They implied that he was at the scene when four masked men killed and robbed the family.
