The Alejandro Santoyo Guzman murder case ended on November 6, 2017, when a Tulsa County judge sentenced the Houston-area man to life in prison plus 18 years for the October 2016 kidnapping and shooting death of Wilmer Flores near Mohawk Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma.1Tulsa World. Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Revenge Killing at Mohawk Park Guzman was 20 years old at the time of the killing, and he was free on bond from three separate Texas armed-robbery cases when he crossed into Oklahoma.
The Killing of Wilmer Flores
Flores’s body was found on October 12, 2016, near the entrance to Mohawk Park on the north side of Tulsa after witnesses reported hearing a gunshot. Tulsa Police Homicide Detective Sergeant Dave Walker said Flores had been abducted from his apartment and then killed.2KJRH. Fatal Shooting at Mohawk Park in Tulsa Believed Connected to Crime Spree Police called it a retribution killing. Guzman and his associates had gone to the apartment looking for Flores’s younger brother, whom they suspected of stealing a vehicle, cash, designer clothes, and marijuana from Guzman.3MoreLaw. Alejandro Santoyo Guzman, CF-2016-5639
Investigators tied the murder to a wider crime spree that included the theft of a pickup truck, a carjacking at gunpoint, and several armed robberies. Three suspects were arrested with Guzman: Jennifer Lopez, 18; Jose De Jesus Flores-Nolasco, 19; and, later, Ricardo Banuelos.2KJRH. Fatal Shooting at Mohawk Park in Tulsa Believed Connected to Crime Spree4News On 6. Tulsa Man Charged in 2016 Murder Pleads Guilty Authorities said the group was believed to be from Houston.
The Charges and Sentence
Guzman was charged in Tulsa County District Court in case number CF-2016-5639 with nine counts: first-degree murder, kidnapping, three counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle, assault and battery with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, and attempted kidnapping.3MoreLaw. Alejandro Santoyo Guzman, CF-2016-5639
On June 2, 2017, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and the eight related counts.4News On 6. Tulsa Man Charged in 2016 Murder Pleads Guilty Five months later, he received life plus 18 years.1Tulsa World. Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Revenge Killing at Mohawk Park Flores-Nolasco was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Lopez received a 10-year suspended sentence.
Why Guzman Was Free When Flores Was Killed
In December 2014, Guzman was charged in Texas with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. One of his victims, a veteran named Guillermo Reveiz, said Guzman threatened him at gunpoint in a Channelview grocery store parking lot.5ABC13. A Look at Why Repeat Offenders Aren’t Kept Behind Bars Judge Ryan Patrick granted a $75,000 bond and Guzman was released.
While out on bond, Guzman was charged with two more armed robberies and was granted bond again. He then cut off his court-ordered ankle monitor and absconded. Judge Patrick later said it did not appear prosecutors had asked for special conditions on the bond. Congressman Ted Poe, a former prosecutor and judge, told ABC13 that the Oklahoma homicide “none of that would have occurred if he’d have stayed in jail.”5ABC13. A Look at Why Repeat Offenders Aren’t Kept Behind Bars State Senator John Whitmire announced plans for a bond reform package aimed at reinforcing judges’ authority to hold defendants deemed dangerous.
The 2014 Family Crash
Guzman’s name also appears in coverage of an unrelated tragedy. On June 29, 2014, a wrong-way drunk driver struck the Guzman family’s Ford F-150 head-on on North Sam Houston Parkway near Humble, Texas, killing five relatives: Valentin Guzman, 41; Elvira Guzman-Santoyo, 40; and three of their children, Ani, 13, Patricia, 11, and Valentin Jr., 3.6Houston Chronicle. Funeral Set for Five Members of Family Killed by Wrong-Way Driver The driver, Efraim Carmona, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.23 and pleaded guilty in March 2015 to five counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxicated assault, receiving 50 years in prison.7Houston Chronicle. Man Pleads Guilty to DWI Deaths of Five Alejandro Santoyo Guzman was a surviving family member. The crash was a separate matter from the criminal case that sent him to prison.