After a protracted journey of seeking justice, Maricopa County authorities have finally convicted a man in a teen girl's murder that had gone unsolved for years. As reported by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Sergio Reyes, who was just a teenager himself when the crime occurred, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the second-degree murder of 15-year-old Elena Lasswell.
Details of the case reveal a haunting scenario from July 2004, when eyewitnesses recounted seeing Elena and a boy enter her bedroom and close the door behind them – a setting that would be her last conscious refuge. The following night, Elena’s brother and friends discovered her lifeless body in that very room. An autopsy later confirmed the cause of death as strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head. It wasn't until a breakthrough in 2013, that Phoenix Police Department detectives were able to use familial DNA to make an incriminating connection to Reyes, as reported by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. Exactly twenty years after Elena’s body was found, Reyes was brought back from Mexico to Maricopa County to finally face justice.
County Attorney Rachel Mitchell expressed the resonance of justice served, stating, "This case highlights the tireless efforts of Phoenix Police detectives and MCAO prosecutors who never gave up in the pursuit of justice for Elena and her family." Mitchell continued to underscore the endurance of truth and law enforcement by adding, "This defendant tried to run and hide, but in Maricopa County, the truth will catch up to you and so will law enforcement," as stated by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
