MESA, Ariz. — More than a decade after 14-year-old Claudia Lucero was sexually assaulted and murdered in Mesa, the man accused of killing her is on trial for the crime.
Proceedings have recently begun in Alex Madrid's criminal trial for the 2013 death of the Westwood High School student. The 42-year-old defendant is facing charges of murder, kidnapping and abandoning a dead body.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Una década después de que una niña de 14 años fuera encontrada sin vida en un basurero de Mesa, su presunto asesino es sometido a juicio
Lucero was sexually assaulted, strangled and then her body was placed in a dumpster located along Brown Road in Mesa.
Madrid was the estranged ex-boyfriend of Lucero's mother and had recently moved out of the family's residence.
Prosecutors told the jury that Madrid had no reason to be at the family's apartment on the morning of Dec. 5, 2013 when Lucero was home alone and getting ready for school.
After he "strangled every last breath out" of the teenager, prosecutors said Madrid then staged her room to make it appear as if she ran away from home by placing some of her belongings in a storage container.
Upon placing the victim in a dumpster, the defendant then allegedly drove to a court hearing he had scheduled that day for a minor citation and continued to go about his day, prosecutors said.
Friends of the 14-year-old victim have begun to testify as witnesses in a trial that is scheduled to potentially continue for the next few weeks in Maricopa County Superior Court. In 2014, prosecutors filed a notice of their intention to seek the death penalty against Madrid if he's convicted of the crimes.
