Man found guilty of raping and killing Mesa teenager

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Mesa man has been found guilty of raping and strangling a young girl whose body was found in a dumpster more than a decade ago.

On Wednesday, it took just 45 minutes for a jury to find Alex Madrid guilty on all counts in the 2013 murder of 14-year-old Claudia Lucero. The jury unanimously found him guilty of the following charges.

• First degree murder
• kidnapping
• Sexual behavior with minors
• Second degree burglary
• Abandoning or concealing a corpse
• Unlawful escape from a police vehicle,

The verdict was announced at the end of a trial that began on August 22nd.

During the trial, prosecutors and investigators laid out their case against Madrid. Shortly before Lucero's murder, her mother broke up with Madrid and told him to move out of the apartment.

On December 5, 2013, the teenager's mother and brothers left home while she was preparing for school. At that point, according to prosecutors, Madrid entered the apartment, sexually assaulted Lucero and strangled her.

After her death, according to the state, Madrid placed the girl's body and some of her belongings in a storage tub, then wrapped her in a comforter and deposited her in a dumpster at a nearby apartment complex. The next morning, two women looking for bottles and cans found her body.

The evidence collected in the apartment and where her body was hidden was linked to Madrid. Meanwhile, the defense claimed the police made up their minds and never looked for another possible suspect.

The jury will be back in court next week to hear from an expert before sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. Since this is a murder case, the jury will decide whether Madrid spends the rest of his life behind bars or faces the death penalty.

Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it to us here with a short description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.