An Edinburg man admitted on Wednesday to stabbing his girlfriend to death in 2019.
Isidro Beltran Mancilla Jr., 42, plead guilty to a charge of murder and received a 45-year prison sentence, court records indicate.
A judge handed the sentence down a day before Mancilla’s birthday.
On Feb. 26, 2019, police responded to the 3000 block of East Efrain Street, off North Doolittle Road in northeast Edinburg, around 11 p.m. in reference to a suspicious circumstance and found 27-year-old Samantha Marie Cantu dead from a stab wound to the chest.
Police allege Mancilla initially fled to Mexico, but authorities arrested him the following day at the Hidalgo Port of Entry when he crossed back into the United States to surrender to Edinburg police.
At the time, police said it was unknown how long Cantu had been dead, but when officers arrived she was not responsive.
Mancillas will be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence.
He will be 63 at that time.
