Two gang members of the notoriously violent MS-13 living illegally in Texas have been sentenced to 40 years in prison after murdering a 15-year-old girl.
“This is a tragic case of a runaway girl falling into the clutches of a dangerous and violent gang,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement released by her office this week.
Diego Hernandez Rivera, 22, and Miguel Alvarez Flores, 26, were both members of the Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational gang, and migrated from El Salvador to the United States, where they have been living for an undisclosed time.
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In 2017, the duo selected Genesis Cornejo-Alvarado to be a sacrifice in a satanic ritual, resulting in her death.
“On Monday, just before jury selection was set to begin in his trial, Diego Hernandez-Rivera, 22, pleaded guilty to murder in the death of Genesis Cornejo-Alvarado in exchange for 40 years in prison,” the district attorney’s office said. “Hernandez-Rivera, who went by ‘Scary,’ also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in exchange for 12 years in prison. Those sentences will run concurrently.”
“His partner in crime, Miguel Alvarez-Flores, 26, who went by ‘Diabolico,’ pleaded guilty to murder in February and was sentenced to 40 years in prison,” the office continued.
Monday’s plea will end the trial process, when prosecutors are expected to show the 15-year-old was “likely” chosen “because she disrespected their shrine to the Santa Muerte, the Saint of Death,” Ogg said.
The Houston Police Department, the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and the Digital Forensics Unit of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office all contributed to the investigation.
