A California man who had worked for US Customs and Border Protection admitted to recruiting his estranged half-brother, a gravedigger and former gang member in El Salvador, to abduct and strangle his wife in 2016 after fearing the victim was having an affair.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said that Eddy Reyes, 38, pleaded guilty to kidnapping resulting in death late last week, several years after the murder of Claudia Sanchez Reyes, the mother of their small son.
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According to the plea bargain, Reyes’ defense will not seek a sentence of less than 25 years in jail, while prosecutors will not seek more than 30 years. Despite the fact that the deal was a Rule 11 (c)(1)(C) agreement, which judges are sometimes hesitant to accept because it takes sentencing discretion away from them, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton accepted the defendant’s plea last Friday and scheduled sentencing for the morning of August 2.
“At sentencing, should the Court determine that a sentence higher than 30 years is appropriate, the defendant can withdraw his guilty plea and proceed to trial,” the terms of the plea bargain stated.
The agreed-upon facts of the case are that the then-CBP employee met the victim in El Salvador in 2014, when she was 16 years old, got her pregnant, married her, and then “brought her and their son to the United States.” Just two years later, the defendant contacted his now-deceased estranged brother, P.O., with plans for a murderous kidnapping. Prior to the murder, the two met in a Los Angeles McDonald’s restaurant.
“In 2016, the defendant suspected Claudia S. was having an affair with another guy. The defendant decided to murder Claudia S. According to the plea deal, “the defendant met with his half-brother, P.O., at a McDonald’s restaurant in Los Angeles approximately one month before May 6, 2016″—the day of the kidnapping. “Defendant was previously estranged from his half-brother but contacted him because P.O. was [sic] previously a gang member and gravedigger in El Salvador.”
Prosecutors said, and the defendant agreed, that Eddy Reyes hired a Hyundai Santa Fe and lied to the victim about it being a “gift for her.”
On the day of the kidnapping, Eddy Reyes picked Claudia up from work under the pretense of going out to dinner together, all while P.O. was “hiding under a blanket in the cargo area” of the SUV.
Eddy Reyes drove to his mother’s house, parked the SUV in a garage, and locked the garage door behind them before P.O. leaped into the back seat and strangled Claudia to death with a seat belt while she sat in the passenger seat, according to court filings.
“P.O. pulled Claudia backwards with such force that the passenger seat collapsed towards the back seat,” the terms of the plea deal stated.
On the day after the murder, P.O. attempted to deceive the victim’s coworkers, a “paralegal who worked for [the victim’s] divorce lawyer,” and the victim’s mother via a series of texts from Claudia’s phone. Claudia refused to come to work, stated that she no longer required a divorce lawyer, and announced that she was leaving Eddy Reyes for a “white American man with blue eyes.”
The text wished Claudia’s mother a “Happy Mother’s Day,” despite the fact that those responsible were aware she had died.
“Mom, the truth is that I met a white American man with blue eyes who is going to take me to New York, and because I don’t love Eddy or the boy, even though the boy loves me very much, I’m going to leave with this American man.” “And because Eddie adores the boy, I’m leaving him in charge because he’ll be a better father than I,” the text to Claudia’s mother read. “And because we’re taking the bus and there won’t be an internet signal, I’m going to unplug this phone so Eddy doesn’t follow me.” I’ll contact you when I get there. Mom, I love and care for you very much.” Happy Mother’s Day.”
The plea agreement was a significant step forward in a case that has languished since Eddy Reyes’ arrest in April 2021.
Claudia Sanchez Reyes, according to the US Department of Justice, was the victim of domestic violence for two years before her murder, citing temporary restraining orders. KTLA previously revealed photos of a bruised Claudia from a 2014 domestic violence incident.
“Court documents previously filed in this case allege a history of domestic abuse by Reyes against his wife, who obtained temporary restraining orders against him in 2014 and 2016,” the U.S. Department of Justice stated. “On May 19, 2016, Reyes drove to a parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport and threw in the trash a backpack containing a blanket and rags that P.O. used to wipe down the seatbelt and interior of the SUV where Claudia Reyes died.”
After Eddy Reyes reported his wife missing on May 11, 2016, four days after claiming to have last heard from Claudia, witness testimony and forensic evidence from the SUV he rented led directly to him, prosecutors said. The guilty plea formally undermines Eddy Reyes’ assertions that the victim went clubbing and never returned, as well as his defense lawyer’s allegations that his client was “extremely distraught” by what happened.
