PHOENIX — The fight for justice is a step closer for Irene Luevano’s family.
Nearly two years after the 37-year-old was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend, Jorge Quintero Lara, he has pleaded guilty to killing the single mother of six.
Lara pled guilty to 2nd-degree murder, kidnapping, and forgery on Tuesday after he accepted a plea agreement. The family was against the offer. They wanted to go to trial.
“We’re asking for no mercy on him,” Victoria Luevano, the victim’s sister told 12News. “We want to see him locked up in those four walls. For him not to see the light of day.”
Lara had been indicted by a grand jury on first-degree murder, kidnapping, and concealing of a dead body—charges that could land him behind bars for half a century.
But after he accepted the plea deal, Lara is only facing a sentence of 33 years in prison.
“I don’t accept the 33 years,” Marilisa Salgado told the judge after Lara pleaded guilty to the new charges. “I know it’s not fair, he deserves more. My mom deserves justice.”
Three members of the family pleaded with the court to reject the plea agreement.
“He does not deserve to be out when he’s 56 years old,” Irene Luevano’s mother said. “I would like for them to give him life in prison. That’s all I want.”
The murder
On Jan. 16, 2022, Luevano called her oldest daughter, Marilisa Salgado, telling Salgado that Luevano's boyfriend, Jorge Quintero Lara, had stabbed Luevano in the neck. They called Phoenix police and tried to track her phone, but she was nowhere to be found.
The family, friends, and strangers desperately searched for Luevano for five days across the Valley, in areas the couple would often frequent when going off-roading.
On Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, the 37-year-old’s body was found 100 miles west of the Valley. Records said she had been stabbed multiple times.
The day Luevano went missing, Lara went to a hospital with a “sharp force injury to his stomach,” court records said. He told investigators he had been robbed and denied having had an altercation with his girlfriend. He was arrested on unrelated forgery charges.
After Luevano’s body was found, Lara was questioned. During a post-Miranda interview, he admitted to stabbing Luevano in the neck while driving in Phoenix, court documents said.
“We’re not going to rest,” Victoria Luevano said. “We’re just praying to God that we go to trial. So, they can hear us. So, we can get justice.”
Lara is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 2, 2024, at 9 a.m. On that day the judge can decide if the plea agreement “is appropriate justice” on the case. The judge can accept the plea deal or decide the case goes to trial. That’s what the family wants.
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