Gustine man receives life in prison for murder at Merced County dairy
A 31-year old Gustine man was sentenced Tuesday to 147 years to life in prison plus 41 years for brutally murdering a man a year ago near Gustine.
Jurors in March convicted Hector DeLaCruz of killing Santiago Perez Mantar on April 20 last year. Five days earlier he had robbed and assaulted two other victims.
The charges he was convicted of include first degree murder, attempted murder and six other felonies, according to a news release from the Merced County District Attorney’s Office.
Mantar, who was murdered by DeLaCruz, was a native of Guatemala who immigrated to the U.S. in 2015 for work. His family returned his body to Guatemala for a reunion with his parents and burial, according to the release.
Mantar’s brother Herminio Perez Mantar spoke at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing in Judge Ronald Hansen’s courtroom.
“He was killed not because he had issues with the person that committed the crime, not because he owed that person money. No he was killed because he had a job and the person that killed him wanted to rob him,” Perez Mantar said.
“My mother received his cold, dead body, not the loving son she had sent off five years before to the United States.”
The victim of the attempted murder, Francisco Lopez, also spoke at the hearing.
“My wife to this day is on medication for anxiety and post-traumatic stress,” Lopez said. “I still have nights that I still cannot sleep and be calm... After two surgeries on my hand and four months of therapy, I cannot do several jobs that previously I was able to do.”
In November 2019, DeLaCruz was arrested on five violations of his probation.
Before committing the homicide and the assaults, he had been released early from prison on April 15 last year.
During trial, law enforcement officials and experts presented physical evidence linking DeLaCruz to the crimes. That included DNA on a wallet located in DeLaCruz’s home that belonged to one of the victims and photos taken by DeLaCruz within minutes of the assaults.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 8:33 PM.
