After only one day of testimony, Ruben Torres, the Harlingen man charged with capital murder in the death and disappearance of his 13-year old girlfriend Abigail Estrada, accepted a plea bargain from prosecutors.
He pleaded guilty this morning to the 2007 murder and 103rd state District Judge Janet Leal sentenced him to 18 years in prison with credit for time served.
Under the plea agreement he accepted from the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, Torres will be eligible for parole and possibly out of prison in as little as 10 years according to his attorney Lilia Gonzales Pena. He received credit for the 503 days he’s been jailed. Had the trial continued and Torres been found guilty of capital murder he would have served a minimum of 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
Estrada disappeared in 2007 and during testimony on Monday, friends of Torres told the jury Torres admitted to killing Estrada for snitching on him to the Harlingen police about a drive-by shooting.
They say Torres told them he had taken the young girl to a field, made her kneel and then shot her. Her body has never been found.
