New Details: 38-year sentence for Canutillo man who killed his sister
Update (August 28, 2024): Watch El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks address Guzman's 38-year sentence live in the livestream below.
Update (August 27, 2024): Guzman took a plea deal and received a 38-year sentence.
The El Paso District Attorney's office will hold a news conference on the plea deal Wednesday at 11 AM.
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A woman who calls herself the ex-girlfriend of a man accused of killing his sister called her former relationship intense and controlling.
According to the El Paso Sheriff’s Office, 32-year-old Jose Manuel Guzman admitted to killing his sister, Karla Chavez De Ortiz, with a baseball bat and a hand-held electric massager after learning she had sexual relations with another man.
Guzman told police months before the murder, he reunited with his sibling and shortly after moved in together and started a sexual relationship.
According to court documents, deputies were dispatched to Guzman's Canutillo apartment after the siblings mother requested a welfare check on her daughter.
The siblings mother told 911 dispatchers that Guzman, her son, had an unknown problem with daughter, Chavez De Ortiz and that he possibly killed her.
Authorities say Guzman fled the scene and later turned himself in on Feb. 3.
ABC-7 spoke with Guzman’s ex-girlfriend, Yessica Hernandez, who said she was shocked to hear the news.
Hernandez said that during their two-year-long relationship, they lived together and that he was very protective of her.
She said Guzman did not let her wear certain clothing like shorts, or use her cell phone.
Hernandez said she suffered depression during her time with him.
She also said she did not know the two were romantically involved and was shocked to find out he was dating his sister.
She said Guzman would speak to her from time to time on the phone and would even introduce the two.
Still, hearing the news that Guzman was charged for murder, she said she was not surprised.
"He has anger issues and he has jealousy issues so I knew it was going to come, I didn't know it was going to be with his own sister, but I knew it was going to come one way or another," said Hernandez.
In disbelief, she told ABC-7 that it could have been her. She reminds people to get out of unhealthy relationships.
“Have somebody to talk to, don't close yourself in depression and try to seek for help,” said Hernandez.
