Jury finds Chicago man guilty in slaying of six members of extended family in 2016 Gage Park case
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A Chicago man accused in 2016 of killing six family members in their Gage Park bungalow was found guilty Wednesday afternoon.
The verdict put to rest a years-old case that horrified Chicagoans when chilling details of the mass slaying, including two children, were released to the public. Diego Uribe Cruz, 28, was found guilty on all six counts of first-degree murder after jurors deliberated for two days.
Prosecutors had alleged that Uribe Cruz went to the home of relatives in order to rob them and ultimately killed the family members so as not to leave witnesses. His defense attorneys countered during the trial that one person could not have overpowered six people and that the state’s case was lacking on several fronts.
The six slain relatives made up three generations and included two children, 10-year-old Alexis Cruz and 13-year-old Leonardo Cruz. Maria Herminia Martinez, 32, her brother, Noe Martinez Jr., 38, and their mother and father, Rosaura Martinez, 58, and Noe Martinez Sr., 62 were also killed. The two children were Maria Martinez’s.
Family members watched the trial, at times growing emotional when attorneys showed crime scene photos or re-creations. Jurors deliberated late into the evening on Tuesday and resumed late Wednesday morning before coming to a decision.
“Today’s verdict has been six years in the making,” said First Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Lanier after the jury decision. “It’s been a long time for this family who has been hoping for justice for this long.”
Prosecutors began presenting evidence to the jury last week, including testimony from Uribe Cruz’s former girlfriend, Jafeth Ramos, who said that Uribe Cruz started driving toward the Martinez home and told her they would “come back with some money.”
“These were women, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents, cousins. They were a family,” said Jason Fisher, an assistant state’s attorney.
Ramos testified as part of a plea deal by which she pleaded guilty to armed robbery in order to get reduced charges and likely a 25-year sentence as opposed to life in prison.
She told the jury Uribe Cruz asked Maria Martinez to talk upstairs but held a gun to her, demanded money and shot her when she did not comply. He bludgeoned Noe Martinez Jr. with the pistol and put his knee on his neck after he came upstairs, prosecutors alleged.
“At that point the brother, Noe Jr., made the mistake to come to the aid of his sister,” Fisher said.
Uribe Cruz then pushed Rosaura Martinez down the stairs after she followed them up, prosecutors said. He stabbed Rosaura Martinez and the children, they alleged, and killed Noe Martinez Sr. after he returned home with food.
Prosecutors said they found DNA that matched Uribe Cruz under Maria Martinez’s fingernails and in a smear of blood. During the trial, they also showed video of Uribe Cruz confessing some details of the crime to Chicago police detectives.
In her closing arguments, Uribe Cruz’s attorney Margaret Domin told the jury that her client could not have overpowered six people without a 911 call or neighbors hearing a commotion. She said the details of the crime are difficult to hear, but she contended the pieces didn’t fit together.
Domin questioned why Uribe’s DNA wasn’t found elsewhere in such a brutal crime scene. She said that Uribe Cruz confessed after being held without access to water or a bathroom for a time.
“The evidence the state presented doesn’t make sense,” she said. “The state not been able to explain to you how one person could have done this.”
