EDINBURG — The cries of a man’s 16-year-old daughter permeated the halls of the Hidalgo County Courthouse as she and other family members said their goodbyes to her father who was convicted of killing his common-law wife with a cement block in 2017.
Eduardo Gonzalez Cruz, 34, was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday afternoon after a jury found him guilty of murdering 30-year-old Adaly Tellez Johnson on Tuesday.
But those tears and his family’s pleas for leniency didn’t stop state District Judge Fernando Mancias from sending Cruz to prison for half a century for a crime that deprived another family of their loved one.
During the sentencing hearing, state prosecutors brought in Adaly’s 63-year-old mother, Sonia Ramirez Tellez, and a woman named Esther Vargas.
Cruz kidnapped Vargas and her kids the day he was arrested by Pharr police, which was a day after the murder.
Tellez said she disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with Cruz because she knew he had a criminal history and a bad reputation.
Tellez also said her daughter’s death left her another void — her grandchildren. She’s been unable to see them because they’re all living with their fathers. She said she spent a lot of time with Adaly and her kids having cookouts and spending time at her mother’s house.
“She was very happy,” Tellez said in Spanish amid tears. “She would provide for me a lot. She would like for me to dress up. She would paint my hair. She would put on my makeup. We would go out with the kids to the beach and parks.”
Tellez said she has no social life now that her daughter is dead.
Vargas testified about the terrifying encounter she had with Cruz when he kidnapped her and her two kids a day after the murder. He used their vehicle to drive around McAllen, visiting banks in attempts to take out money.
Vargas said Cruz used a metal object to threaten her. He started becoming impatient when he was unable to obtain any cash and became paranoid when he saw a police vehicle behind them while on the road, she said.
Once the police unit turned on its lights and sirens, Cruz began speeding and driving recklessly. He finally slowed down when he was unable to maneuver around a bus driving the speed limit, but the vehicle spun out onto a grassy area, according to police testimony.
Vargas said her son pulled the emergency handbrake and caused Cruz to lose control of the vehicle.
It was then that police managed to apprehend him and he finally complied with police orders.
In an effort to ask the judge for leniency, defense attorneys brought in several witnesses to testify, including Cruz’s daughter and mother, Ana Maria Cruz.
Both witnesses testified before the court that Cruz wasn’t the “monster” state prosecutors were making him out to be. His daughter said he was always there for her and described him as “really funny.”
She said her dad would often write to her from jail and apologize for his actions in his letters, though she never wrote back because she “never knew what to say.”
When asked what she would like the judge to take into consideration for Cruz’s sentencing, the 16-year-old said she wanted him to be there for her graduation and wedding, to watch her grow up and have children of her own.
Cruz wept as he listened to his daughter’s testimony.
But despite his reaction to his family members’ pleas for leniency, he showed no emotion when Mancias handed down the 50-year sentence.
